PANAMA CITY— A Bay County man was charged with manslaughter for his role in an overdose death, according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.
An arrest affidavit shows that 37-year-old Sterling Johnson and a 29-year-old female left their home off Jammie Road on Feb. 27 to purchase $50 worth of Gamma-Hydroxybutyric Acid (GHB). They planned to consume the drug together.
GHB is a depressant that affects the central nervous system. According to the Oxford Treatment Center, it is a common party drug. Extremely small amounts of GHB can be toxic.
Johnson and the victim went to a friend’s home off Pine Avenue, where she took GHB. After becoming severely impaired by the drug, Johnson took them back to the their home off Jammie Road.
The affidavit says that video footage from the home shows the victim could not walk, speak or stand on her own. Johnson is said to have put her over his shoulders and carried her “near-lifeless” body into the home.
Johnson reportedly later noticed that she was not breathing, so he called 911. BCSO and emergency medical services arrived and declared her dead on scene. Officials with the District 14th Medical Examiner’s office later determined she had several times the lethal dose of GHB in her system.
Ten search warrants were written, and over a dozen statements were taken during two dozen interviews over a 127-day investigation. Investigators determined that Johnson bought the bottle of GHB for the victim. BCSO alleges that they both consumed GHB together.
They showed up with a bottle containing GHB. Johnson is said to have consumed a cap’s worth of the substance while the victim took an unknown amount.
At the friend’s house off Pine Avenue, Johnson allegedly offered others GHB from the bottle.
Johnson reportedly told investigators that he and the victim often took the drug together. BCSO reports that he said that he would normally pour her half a cap of the substance. She had apparently wanted more, and Johnson told her no because she had already had some.
Johnson allegedly told deputies it was not his fault she died, since she was an adult and decided for herself to take GHB. He compared it to drinking too much at a party, then dying in a wreck while driving away.
Case details were provided to the State Attorney’s Office Major Crime division on July 15, when they determined there was probable cause to charge Johnson with manslaughter. GHB is a schedule-one drug.
Johnson was given a $1 million bond. He had already been incarcerated since April for charges of trafficking more than 28 grams of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and resisting an officer without violence.
In the April arrest, he was taken to the Bay County Jail without bond, since he was already out on bond for a 2024 charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Bay County man charged with manslaughter after woman overdoses on party drug
Reporting by Dylan Gentile, Panama City News Herald / The News Herald
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