A Lacey Township 28-year-old is accused of supplying a Brick Township man with the heroin that killed him.

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Christopher T. Marsillo was charged Monday in a probe of the death of Gerard Bornemann, 28, in January, according to information from the office of Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato.

Charges include strict liability for a drug-induced death, reckless manslaughter, distribution of heroin, possession of heroin and possession with intent to distribute heroin. Marsillo was placed in the Ocean County Jail in Toms River with full bail set at $200,000.

Christopher T. Marsillo (Ocean County Prosecutor's Office)
Christopher T. Marsillo (Ocean County Prosecutor's Office)
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Strict liability enforcement is core to the Prosecutor's efforts to reduce opiate-related overdoses in Ocean County.  Figures released by Coronato's office reveal 18 investigations of drug-induced deaths in which six have taken guilty pleas to strict liability, and two codefendants pleaded guilty to drug counts.

According to investigators, Bornemann was found lying in a bedroom of a dwelling on Drum Point Road in the late afternoon of January 24. Efforts to revive him, including Narcan, failed. Bornemann was pronounce dead within 45 minutes.

The Ocean County Medical Examiner traced the cause of death to heroin.

Marsillo was met at his work place Monday by investigators from the Prosecutor's Office and Brick Township, interviewed and later charged at Lacey Township police headquarters, authorities said.

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