Re-parole in drug death case
A former Butler County woman, previously sentenced to time-served after being accused of helping to provide fentanyl-laced heroin that resulted in the death of a Donegal Township man, was re-paroled in Butler County Court on Friday, after admitting to violating her parole by using drugs.
Julia L. Zaludek, 26, admitted that she tested positive for narcotics, and her parole was revoked by county Judge William Shaffer. Shaffer then re-paroled Zaludek with no credit for time.
Shaffer also allowed the supervision to be transferred to Allegheny County, where Zaludek now resides and is in intensive outpatient treatment.
She had previously been sentenced to three to six months in Butler County Prison, immediately paroled on time served and ordered to undergo 54 months of county probation.
Zaludek on April 5 pleaded guilty to misdemeanor involuntary manslaughter after being charged with felony drug delivery resulting in death, which carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, as well as felony criminal use of a communication facility and the manslaughter charge in relation to the Sept. 16, 2015, death of Joshua Lee Stitt.
Both defense and prosecuting attorneys noted her cooperation at the time of sentencing, which led to the arrest and charges against two other individuals involved — Justin O. Newman, 28, of Brady Township and William C. Thomas III, 32, formerly of Homestead.
She was charged by the state police after authorities say Stitt and Newman traveled with Newman's then-girlfriend, Zaludek, to buy 75 bags of heroin for $400 at a fast-food restaurant parking lot in Pittsburgh's Homestead section from Thomas.
Newman is accused of providing the stamp bags of heroin to Stitt after the deal.
Family members said Stitt's 5-year-old son later found his father unresponsive in the bedroom of his home on Trimbur Road. A toxicology report eventually determined he died of a combined heroin and fentanyl overdose.
Zaludek was arraigned and held in the Butler County Prison on $50,000 cash bail on April 11, which was posted April 25.
Newman remains held in the Butler County Prison on $100,000 bail awaiting further court proceedings.
Thomas, who is currently serving a two- to four-year sentence at the State Correctional Institution at Greene County in connection with a 2016 conviction for felony drug possession in Allegheny County, is awaiting further court proceedings as well.
