Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced that on May 27, 2022, Curtis Geathers, 37, of Barnegat, pled guilty before the Honorable Rochelle Gizinski, J.S.C., to Manslaughter in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:11-4b(1), in connection with the death of a female victim that occurred in Point Pleasant Borough on January 10, 2019. At the time of his sentencing on July 22, 2022, the State will be recommending a sentence of four years New Jersey State Prison (NJSP), subject to the terms of the No Early Release Act, N.J.S.A. 2C:43-7.2. Geathers also pled guilty to an unrelated charge of Possession of Fentanyl with Intent to Distribute in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:35-5a(1) and N.J.S.A. 2C:35-5b(5), for which the State will be recommending a sentence of five years NJSP. The sentences are to run concurrently. This plea agreement was entered into in consultation with – and with the approval of – the victim’s family.

On January 10, 2019, officers from the Point Pleasant Borough Police Department were dispatched to a local residence for a report of an unresponsive female. The female was transported to Hackensack Meridian Ocean University Medical Center in Brick Township, where she expired on January 12, 2019.

A subsequent investigation by the Ocean County lProsecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Strike Force, and Point Pleasant Borough Police Department, revealed that Geathers was the supplier of heroin and fentanyl that was distributed to the victim on January 10, 2019. A toxicology report received by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed the cause of the victim’s death to be Acetyl Fentanyl Toxicity.

On February 7, 2019, Geathers was arrested by Detectives from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Strike Force, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit, and Berkeley Township Police Department. He has been lodged in the Ocean County Jail since the date of his arrest.

Prosecutor Billhimer acknowledges the diligent efforts of Senior Assistant Prosecutor Ashley Angelo who is handling the case on behalf of the State, as well as the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Strike Force, Point Pleasant Borough Police Department, Berkeley Township Police Department, Seaside Heights Police Department, Toms River Township Police Department, Toms River Police Department Special Enforcement Team, and Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit, for their collaborative assistance in connection with this investigation leading to Geathers’ guilty plea, and soon his state prison sentence.