Ocean County authorities announced that on Friday, Mr. David Belk, 45, of Little Egg Harbor, a fugitive from justice relative to an incident that occurred in Little Egg Harbor Township on July 3, was apprehended in Atlantic City by the New Jersey Transit Police.
Officials say at the time of Belk’s apprehension, he was found to be in possession of heroin and was charged accordingly.
Authorities processed Belk at Little Egg Harbor Township Police Headquarters and transported him to the Ocean County Jail, where he will remain lodged pending a detention hearing.
Belk was charged on August 26, with Strict Liability Drug-Induced Death, Endangering the Welfare of a Child, Possession of Heroin with Intent to Distribute, and Possession of Heroin in connection with the July 3, 2021 incident.
Police said officers from the Little Egg Harbor Police Department were summoned to a residence on East Susquehanna Drive for a report of an unresponsive sixteen-year-old male lying on the floor.
Responding officers immediately administered lifesaving techniques; the young man was transported to Hackensack Meridian Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, where he was subsequently pronounced deceased.
An investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit and Little Egg Harbor Township Police Department Detective Bureau determined that Belk and a co-defendant Stephanie O’Neill, supplied heroin and fentanyl to the victim.
Officials said a further investigation and toxicology analysis recently received by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed the presence of heroin and fentanyl in the victim’s system.
Based upon the toxicology analysis, the Ocean County Medical Examiner’s Office opined that the Heroin and Fentanyl found in the victim’s system was the cause of his death.