WOMAN CHARGED WITH MURDER IN SEPTEMBER'S HEROIN OVERDOSE

TAMPA - Deputies use a new tactic: If you sell drugs to someone who
overdoses and dies, you are responsible.

Sheriff's deputies put a new law to use Friday when they charged a
19-year-old woman with murder after an acquaintance died of a heroin
overdose.

Amy Elizabeth Wytiaz, of 5304 Reflections Place Court, told deputies
she supplied 20-year-old Ismael Quinones with $40 worth of heroin two
months ago, then watched him use it, sheriff's reports said.

On Sept. 7, Quinones, of 5618 Pinnacle Heights Circle, Apt. 202, was
found dead in Carrollwood. A medical examiner ruled the death as
heroin intoxication.

Wytiaz, also known as Crystal, works at the Pink Pony adult club. Her
criminal record includes an Oct. 30 arrest on a prostitution charge.
Wytiaz was being held Friday at the Orient Road Jail without bail.

Quinones had been arrested last year on charges including possession
of marijuana with intent to sell. He received probation and was taking
part in a community supervision program, records show.

The sheriff's office charged Wytiaz using legislation passed last
year. The law allows for charging a drug provider with murder if the
user overdoses and dies.

``We are sending the message. If you supply the drugs and the person
dies, you're culpable,'' said sheriff's Sgt. Rod Reder.

In July, the sheriff's office charged three people with first-degree
murder; deputies say two supplied a drug, which the third injected
into her husband.

In another case, a person was charged with manslaughter with culpable
negligence, accused of supplying 10 milligrams of an antidepressant to
a friend who later overdosed.

The cases haven't gone to trial.

Ten people in Hillsborough County have died this year of heroin
intoxication; 13 died in 1998.

Heroin's popularity is surging again because people don't remember how
it ruined lives in the 1960s, said Sgt. Rob Bullara of criminal
investigations.