Connecticut man charged in drug case that left woman dead of overdose

Federal authorities said a Connecticut man has been charged with drug trafficking stemming from the investigation of an overdose death in October 2023.

Jimmy Lassus, 39, of Wethersfield, is accused of distributing fentanyl and oxycodone, according to federal authorities and the office of Connecticut U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery.

Authorities said Lassus appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert A. Richardson in Hartford this week and pleaded not guilty. Lassus has been in custody since his arrest on a federal criminal complaint on April 11, 2024, authorities said

Citing allegations contained in court documents and statements made in court, authorities said that on October 6, 2023, Meriden police were called to a home there on a report of a suspected overdose and found a 27-year-old woman unconscious in a bedroom.

The woman was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead, authorities said. The woman’s identity was not released.

“The investigation revealed that the victim had numerous drug-related text message conversations with Lassus several months prior to his death,” authorities said in a statement. The text messages revealed that Lassus allegedly “gave the victim oxycodone and fentanyl, which she ingested in the hours prior to her death.”

The victim “stated in text messages and a journal entry that it was the first time she had taken fentanyl,” the statement said.

Federal authorities said the Connecticut State Office of the Chief Medical Examiner classified the victim’s death as “acute intoxication due to the combined effects of fentanyl, benzodiazepines, xylazine and oxycodone.”

The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration New Haven Task Force and the Meriden Police Department with assistance from the Wethersfield Police Department. The task force includes members of the DEA, U.S. Marshals Service, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, Connecticut State Police, and the police departments of New Haven, Waterbury, East Haven, Branford, West Haven, Ansonia, Meriden, Naugatuck, and Shelton.