Man allegedly gave woman lethal fentanyl dose: Cops

homesafetytechpros — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 23:11:57 +0000

Left to right: Erica Russell (KPRC) and Eric Sembera (Harris County Jail).

A 26-year-old man in Texas has been arrested for allegedly killing a 24-year-old woman by allegedly giving her a lethal dose of fentanyl. Eric Sembera was taken into custody last week and charged with one count of fentanyl murder by delivery in the death of Erica Russell, court documents reviewed by Law&Crime show.

According to a probable cause affidavit, officers with the Tomball Police Department on the morning of Aug. 4, responded to a request for a welfare check on Russell at her apartment in the 29000 block of Tomball Parkway. The caller said that Russell had not been answering her phone.

Investigators learned that Russell went out with Sembera on the night of Aug. 2, and failed to show up for work the following day. A co-worker told police that Russell had overdosed in the early morning hours of Aug. 3 and went to the emergency room at HCA Houston Health Care — Tomball for “an apparent fentanyl overdose.”

Sembera accompanied Russell to the hospital, police wrote in the affidavit, describing him as a “known narcotics user.”

Police made contact with Sembera, who informed them that after the emergency room, he brought Russell back to her apartment sometime in the early morning hours of Aug. 3.

In an interview with police, Sembera allegedly said that after work, he, Russell, and another female co-worker were driving to a bar, and he explained to Russell that he previously had “an addiction problem” involving “Oxy,” according to the affidavit. He then did a “bump” of a white powder narcotic and offered some to Russell, who was hesitant at first.

“Sembera stated ‘[Russell] finally was Just like, okay whatever, do it,”” per the affidavit. “And so I pulled out a little bit and dropped it on her phone,” he allegedly continued, adding it was “straight Fentanyl” that was in “rock and powder form.”

Sembera said they left the bar at around 2 a.m. and went back to Russell’s apartment, where they engaged in sexual intercourse. Afterward, Sembera said they went back out to his car, where Russell suddenly “just stopped talking” and began nodding off until he realized she had become unresponsive. He then said he went into “freak out mode,” performing CPR before driving to the emergency room.

Russell reportedly received treatment, including an IV. When Russell woke up a few hours later, she said, “I don’t want to be here anymore,” and “asked the doctors if she could leave.”

“Sembera stated that Russell was waiting for a while and finally she just jumped out of bed and pulled the IV out of her arm,” per the affidavit. “Sembera stated that Russell said, ‘let’s go.’”

Afterward, Sembera said he dropped Russell back off at her apartment and went straight home, authorities said. He also allegedly confessed that he normally smokes fentanyl two or three times per day with his live-in girlfriend. Police said they found white rocks and powder in Sembera’s car that they believed to be fentanyl.

In a statement to Houston NBC affiliate KPRC, Sembera’s defense attorney, Mark Thering, said the charge against his client is ridiculous.

“This is a tragic accident, not a crime,” Thering said. “Unfortunately, he has had troubles with addiction, and he’s currently inpatient therapy and has been diagnosed with addiction disorder.”

Sembera was arrested on Nov. 26 and was released from custody after posting bond of $100,000. He is scheduled to appear in court again on March 4, records show.

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Lawsuit alleges nurse gave man lethal dose of insulin: Suit

homesafetytechpros — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 00:01:11 +0000

Heather Pressdee, right, a nurse, is accused in a lawsuit of giving a lethal dose of insulin to Nicholas Cymbol, left. (Pressdee’s photo from Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General; Cymbol’s photo from his obituary)

A Pennsylvania nurse, already facing charges that she administered excessive doses of insulin to dozens of patients, including 17 who died, is accused of giving a 43-year-old “brittle diabetic” patient a lethal dose after she routinely insulted, berated, bullied, and abused him, according to a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the man’s family this week.

Heather Pressdee is accused of injecting Nicholas Cymbol with an excessive and lethal dose of insulin last May at Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit documents the events leading up to Cymbol’s death after the suspicious death of another patient on April 17 when, the lawsuit said, “Pressdee set her sights on Nick Cymbol,” a “brittle diabetic” who often experienced large swings in his blood glucose levels and required routine insulin administration to maintain his blood sugar.

“Though Mr. Cymbol was well-liked by the staff at Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Pressdee routinely insulted, berated, bullied, and abused Mr. Cymbol, just as she had done to other residents,” court documents said. “Staff at Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center were aware that Pressdee disliked Mr. Cymbol and that she held the belief that people with a quality of life like Mr. Cymbol did not deserve to live.”

Once Pressdee yelled at Cymbol, in earshot of other Sunnyview staff members, to “get away from [Pressdee’s] f—— desk” when he approached the nurse’s station, court documents said.

She also routinely called him derogatory names such as “retarded” about his anoxic brain injury in earshot of Sunnyview staff members, court documents alleged.

She’s also accused of preventing other nurses at Sunnyview from feeding or providing water to Cymbol several times. The lawsuit said that days before Cymbol died, Pressdee allegedly said he “was going to be the next one to die and that even though staff complained to administrators about it, nothing was done. After nursing staff confronted Sunnyview administration with their concerns about the Pressdee’s “erratic and troubling behavior,” Sunnyview allowed her to continue as unit manager.

“It is absolutely beyond the pale that no one did anything after Pressdee made this promise regarding Mr. Cymbol,” court documents said.

Rob Peirce, the managing partner of Robert Peirce & Associates, said in a statement he’s hoping to get answers as to how she was permitted to continue working in these facilities despite her “erratic, disturbing, and abusive behavior.”

“The more our office has investigated, the more questions we have as to why these facilities allowed these tragedies to occur,” he said.

Sunnyview did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime.

As Law&Crime has reported, Pressdee is accused of intentionally administering excessive doses of insulin to 22 patients between 2020 and her arrest last May, according to the state attorney general’s office.

In a news release, Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry accused her of poisoning 19 patients. In total, 17 of those 19 patients died while in Pressdee’s care, authorities said. Some of the patients — spanning five different care facilities — required insulin to treat diabetes, while some of them did not have diabetes.

She faces one count each of murder of the first and third degree, three counts of criminal homicide, two counts of criminal attempt — murder in the first degree, and charges of aggravated assault, neglect of a care-dependent person, and recklessly endangering another person, court records show. Pressdee remains in custody at Butler County Prison without bail. She has another court hearing set for May 2, according to the court docket.

Pressdee allegedly admitted to some of the incidents but said “she felt bad for their quality of life and she had hoped that they would just slip into a coma and pass away,” according to the initial criminal complaint filed in the case.

Phil DiLucente, one of her attorneys, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime.

But in an interview with CBS Pittsburgh affiliate WPXI in November, DiLucente said his client has expressed remorse.

“She has remorse, yes. I know that sounds trite, but as crazy as the whole thing is, she does express remorse, and I think her expression of remorse is sincere,” DePasquale said, the station reported.

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Man allegedly gave woman lethal fentanyl dose: Cops

Lawsuit alleges nurse gave man lethal dose of insulin: Suit