Bloomfield man charged in connection with deadly drug overdoses

A Bloomfield man faces charges after police said he sold fentanyl-laced cocaine to three people who died of overdoses last summer.

James Hamlett, 43, was taken to Allegheny County Jail after being denied bail Thursday, with District Judge Eileen Conroy calling him a “threat to the community” in court records.

Jason Heintzelman, Micah Danielle White and Davon Tae Lipscomb were found dead in a home on 18^th Street on Pittsburgh’s South Side on July 31, 2021.

Heintzelman, 34, played football in high school and college, according to his obituary, and he had a passion for bartending. Lipscomb, 25, enjoyed fashion and rave music, his family wrote in his obituary. On Facebook, friends remembered 30-year-old White’s laughter and her smile.

Inside the home, investigators found a small bag with white residue, a small straw and a dollar bill with white residue on it, according to the criminal complaint against Hamlett. They also found a mirror broken into two pieces, one of which had a “large amount of white powder” on it.

Jennifer Jassen, toxicology manager for the county medical examiner’s office, told investigators she would say with certainty that the combination of fentanyl and cocaine killed White and Lipscomb. She said Heintzelman had a number of drugs in his system, several of which could have been lethal on their own.

Two witnesses told police they were with Heintzelman, White and Lipscomb during the day leading up to the fatal overdoses. Both described feeling ill after ingesting what they believed was cocaine and said they thought the other three were sleeping when they eventually left the South Side apartment, according to the complaint.

One witness said they drove Heintzelman to a Lawrenceville Wendy’s early on July 31, 2021, after others in the group hanging out together — including White and Lipscomb — all pitched in money to buy cocaine, according to the complaint. Police later identified Hamlett as the man from whom Heintzelman bought the drugs.

Investigators used phone records to connect Hamlett to the alleged drug deal.

Hamlett is charged with five counts each of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment, two counts of drug delivery resulting in death, and drug violations. Court records did not list an attorney for Hamlett as of Thursday afternoon. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 15.