Point Pleasant Drug Dealer Pleads Guilty in Death of Brick Man

A 22-year-old Point Pleasant Borough man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and drug distribution charges stemming from an investigation into the overdose death of a Brick man, Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato announced Friday.

Nicholas Ippolito admitted his role in the death of Joseph Piezzo, 35, who died in his home in Brick on Dec. 13, 2013.

Piezzo died after being rushed to Ocean Medical Center, prompting an investigation by the Brick Township Police Department and the prosecutor's office. On Dec. 20, the county medical examiner found the cause of death was a negative reaction to prescription and street drugs, according to Al Della Fave, spokesman for the prosecutor's office.

On Jan. 24, Della Fave said, investigators found a "critical piece" of evidence in the case, linking Piezzo's death to Ippolito.

Della Fave said prosecutors will seek concurrent three-year sentences on the manslaughter and drug distribution charges, subject to the state's No Early Release Act, under which Ippolito would not be eligible for parole until he served 85 percent of the three year sentence.

Ippolito has been incarcerated in the Ocean County Jail since Feb. 9, 2014 on a parole violation. His bail was set at $200,000 cash at the time of his arrest on March 7, 2014, Della Fave said.

Coronato's office credited the Major Crimes Unit and High Tech Crime Unit of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department, the Brick Township Police Department and the Point Pleasant Borough Police Department, all of which participated in the investigation.

Ippolito is one of seven suspected drug dealers to have been charged by Coronato under the state's Strict Liability statute in the deaths of their customers. The statute was rarely enforced in the state until Coronato began charging dealers in Ocean County last year. So far, three of the seven facing charges have pleaded guilty.

“The Strict Liability Statute, as a tool to hold dealers accountable and to fight back against our county’s heroin epidemic, has proven tremendously successful,” Coronato said in a statement on Friday's guilty plea.