Woman charged with providing drugs that led to man's overdose death
A woman charged in connection with the death of a man caused by a drug overdose will be held without bail as her case makes its way through the court system.
Jodie Ann Overholser is charged with death caused by the unlawful distribution of methamphetamine.
At her court appearance in front of County Judge LeeAnn Mackey-Barnes on Jan. 26, Overholser was appointed the Public Defender's Office for representation and denied bail.
The 51-year-old Ocala woman has a number of convictions dating back to 2013, according to court records. Several involve drug possession and petit theft.
Aside from the death-related charge, Overholser is separately charged with sale of methamphetamine within 1,000 of a school and meth possession. In the latter case, according to court records, Overholser denied the drug belonged to her. She told law enforcement officials that she only uses cocaine.
Assistant State Attorney Tucker O'Neil told the court during the woman's hearing that the state will seek to have Overholser's bond revoked on her two open cases.
The drug overdose
Nearly a year ago, deputies were called to the 5900 block of Southeast Fifth Place. The found a man deceased. The victim was identified as Austin Taylor Roberson, 23, of Ocala.
Deputies believe Roberson's death was due to an overdose. The agency's major crimes unit investigated. Law enforcement officials collected drug paraphernalia, a white crystalline substance and a blue powder as evidence for testing at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The white crystal substance was meth and the other substance was fentanyl.
The Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Roberson died from a combined drug toxicity.
Working with an agent from the Unified Drug Enforcement Strike Team, authorities found messages exchanged between Roberson and Overholser. The messages were about drugs. The agent and the detective found a payment to Overholser's Cashapp account for a drugs transaction, according to the sheriff's office.
Authorities got a search warrant for Overholser's apartment not long after Roberson's death and she was charged with drug possession.
Officials were able to connect the drugs to Roberson's death. The case was presented to the State Attorney's Office for review and prosecutors went to the grand jury late last week seeking an indictment.
Assistant State Attorney Amy Berndt was successful in obtaining Overholser's indictment.
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With the indictment, deputies went to Overholser's residence in Fort McCoy and took her into custody.
Contact Austin L. Miller at austin.miller@starbanner.com
This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: No bail for woman charged in man's overdose death
