Early one morning last September, a 36-year-old Shelton man sent a text message to his alleged drug dealer.
He complained about poor customer service.
“I feel used in a way,” the man wrote to the alleged dealer, Jerome Downing. “I always give u gas money if we travel to get it plus I give you a 20 bag every time I cop from you but you never offer to share with me.”
Downing apologized immediately and set up a deal to sell the man $60 worth of crack cocaine. They arranged to meet near the post office in downtown Shelton.
Hours later, the buyer was found in his bedroom, dead from a drug overdose.
On Feb. 22 Downing, 39, was charged with two counts of selling narcotics in connection to the case.
The details come from an arrest warrant for Downing written by Detective Richard Bango.
The charges date back to Sept. 17, 2016, when police and EMS were sent to the victim’s High Street home about 5 p.m. after receiving a report of an overdose.
Police found the victim lying on his bathroom floor.
An autopsy determined the man’s cause of death as an accidental overdose “due to the combined effects of heroin, fentanyl, cocaine and olanzapine.”
He had a valid prescription for olazapine, according to the warrant.
Apparently the victim had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He began abusing drugs after his insurance stopped paying for his prescribed medications.
In the man’s bedroom police found crack cocaine and other evidence — a rolled up $5 bill and two glass pipes with burns on them.
Cops also found two cell phones.
Bango later looked through one of the phones and found the text message traffic between the victim and Downing arranging two drug deals — one the day the man died, and another a day earlier.
The warrant says the detective eventually tracked down Downing’s mother, who told police Downing was at a drug rehabilitation clinic in New Britain.
Bango interviewed Downing at the clinic, where Downing initially said he didn’t know where the overdose victim got his drugs.
“At that point Downing was confronted with the fact that this Affiant had (the victim’s) phone and read through the text messages,” the warrant says.
Downing then admitted selling three bags of crack to the man.
He told police he dealt drugs to pay for his own habit.
“Downing stated when he sells crack to (the victim) he does not make money, he just keeps some of the crack for himself,” the warrant says.
“The affiant explained to Downing that making drugs as opposed to money is still illegal and considered drug dealing,” Bango wrote. “At that point the interview ended.”
Downing is scheduled to appear in court March 20. He also has cases pending from previous arrests.
