Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina and Evesham Township Police Chief Christopher Chew announced that a Lawnside drug dealer has been charged with homicide for causing the death of a Marlton customer to whom he sold heroin in September.
Police arrested Jimmy Flakes Jr., 40, of Lawnside, yesterday at his residence and charged with Strict Liability for a Drug-Induced Death (First Degree). He was lodged in the Burlington County Jail pending a detention hearing in Superior Court. The case will now be prepared for presentation to a Burlington County Grand Jury for possible indictment.
The investigation revealed that a 45-year-old male resident of the Marlton section of Evesham Township was discovered dead in his home on September 28 after using heroin that had been purchased from Flakes. The investigation further revealed that Flakes made a profit of $10 on the sale of the heroin to the victim.
"This is another example of the determined effort by law enforcement in Burlington County, and our partners from other counties, to investigate and prosecute those who are responsible for taking lives with the poison that they peddle," Prosecutor Coffina said. "People dealing lethal drugs should realize that when their product kills their customers, they will be staring at a 20-year prison term for a first-degree, strict-liability homicide. I commend Evesham PD for aggressively investigating this case and all overdoses -- fatal and nonfatal -- so we can hold accountable those individuals preying on the vulnerability of people struggling with addiction, and vow to use all tools at our disposal to fight the ongoing drug abuse epidemic."
The case was investigated by the Evesham Township Police Department, with assistance from the Lawnside Police Department in Camden County. The lead investigator was Evesham Township Police Detective Christopher A. DeFrancesco.
The case will be prosecuted by Burlington County Assistant Prosecutor Jeremy M. Lackey.
All persons are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.