Prosecutors have charged an Akron man with involuntary manslaughter in the death of a 33-year-old woman who overdosed on drugs he is accused of selling to her.
Genevus Carter, 34, also was charged with corrupting another with drugs and aggravated drug trafficking in a March 16 supplemental indictment. He already was charged in the case with trafficking in cocaine, heroin and marijuana.
According to police reports, Carter’s drugs killed Nina Formosa, 33, on Nov. 9 or 10. Friends and family saw her at her Himelright Boulevard home on Nov. 9 and found her dead of an overdose the next day. They told police she appeared to be high the last time they saw her alive.
According to an obituary posted online, Formosa was a cosmetologist working in Cuyahoga Falls. The obituary described her as a loving and outgoing person who cared deeply for her family, which included her parents, brothers, a sister, an aunt, four nephews and a niece.
Formosa died of an overdose of heroin, cocaine and fentanyl, according to medical examiner’s records.
Experts say opiates like prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl — which is 40 to 50 times stronger than heroin — are responsible for a dramatic spike in the number of opiate overdose deaths across the country in recent years. In 2015, about 160 people died in Summit County of opiate overdoses, compared to 102 in 2014.
Local prosecutors have started charging dealers with manslaughter when possible in an effort to hold them accountable for their products’ deadliness.
Nick Glunt can be reached at 330-996-3565 or nglunt@thebeaconjournal.com.