A 39-year-old man from Leominster, pleaded guilty yesterday in Worcester Superior Court to manslaughter and drug distribution charges tied to a fatal overdose in Fitchburg last June, Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. announced.
Eric Stone of Leominster admitted to involuntary manslaughter, distributing a Class A substance (fentanyl), and distributing cocaine. Judge William Ritter imposed a state prison term of 4 to 5 years for the manslaughter conviction, followed by two years of probation for the drug offenses.
On June 20, 2024, Fitchburg Police and Massachusetts State Police detectives from the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office arrived at a Fitchburg home for an unattended death call involving a 44-year-old man. The investigation revealed Stone had provided the victim with cocaine and fentanyl in the early morning hours before his passing. An autopsy confirmed the death resulted from acute intoxication due to a lethal combination of cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine, and bupropion…