Suspect implicated in Seaside heroin death sentenced

The defendant suspected, but never indicted, of giving a fatal dose of heroin to the son of former Seaside Heights Mayor Bill Akers, didn't escape drug charges that today sent him to prison.

In an Ocean County courtroom in Toms River, Jashon Brinson of Lakewood was given 10 years for his guilty plea to possession with intent to distribute, according to information from County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato's office. The term merges unrelated counts of possession and eluding.

Brinson had been charged with manslaughter related to the 2014 overdose death of William R. Akers. Prosecutors were unable to develop an argument sufficient to carry the charge.