PAIR ADMIT ROLE IN HEROIN DEATH

They Waited An Hour Before Getting Help

Two Hunterdon County women pleaded guilty yesterday to manslaughter charges
in the July 2002 death of their friend, admitting they failed to seek help
for more than an hour after they knew he was overdosing on heroin.

The plea deal struck with prosecutors calls for Erica Poch, 22, of Clinton
Township and Christine Curtin, 24, of High Bridge to be sentenced to three
years each in state prison. In exchange, a first- degree charge of strict
liability in a drug-induced death, which carries a potential 20-year prison
term, will be dropped.

Poch and Curtin admitted during separate appearances before Superior Court
Judge Roger Mahon that they were with Leonardo DiPasquale, 18, of Califon
on July 6 when he suggested they travel to Somerset County to buy heroin.

Curtin made the arrangements to get the drugs while Poch drove the three
friends to make the purchase.

"Where did the money come from to get the heroin?" Curtin's lawyer, Robert
Corbin, asked his client during the guilty plea hearing.

"Leo," Curtin replied.

Curtin and Poch admitted that it was obvious DiPasquale was suffering a
drug overdose soon after he ingested the heroin.

"Did you drive around with him for an hour before anything was done?"
Corbin asked.

"Yes," Curtin replied. Poch provided a similar account as she pleaded
guilty to manslaughter before Mahon.

After an hour, they contacted DiPasquale's parents and arranged to meet
them in a parking lot. They told his parents DiPasquale had taken a
combination of Xanax and alcohol. DiPasquale's parents took him home and
put him to bed. He was pronounced dead the next morning.

DiPasquale's parents were also indicted on manslaughter charges in their
son's death based on allegations they were negligent for not immediately
taking him to a hospital, but that case was dismissed in 2003.

Poch and Curtin are free on bail until their sentencing, which is scheduled
for Nov. 4. Both women must serve at least two years and five months of
their three-year terms before being eligible for parole.

Poch already has seven months of jail time credit from her initial arrest
before she made bail, according to Assistant Hunterdon County Prosecutor
Katharine Errickson.

At the time of DiPasquale's death, he was out on bail awaiting trial on
drug charges linked to another heroin overdose death. DiPasquale was one of
three people charged following the death of Gregory Baltz, 17, of High
Bridge, in January 2002.

Brandon Scott Winters, of Phillipsburg, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in
Baltz's death in exchange for a seven-year state prison term. He is serving
his sentence at Bayside State Prison in Cumberland County. The third person
pleaded guilty to a drug distribution charge.