02/20/2007

Another drug O.D. suspected

By CRAIG McCOOL

cmccool@record-eagle.com

EAST JORDAN — Police are investigating the second suspected drug overdose death in Charlevoix County in just over a month.

Both alcohol and drugs are believed to have factored in the Feb. 16 death of Alan Michael Noirot, 32, of East Jordan.

Authorities received an early-morning 911 call from a residence at the East Jordan Mobile Home Park that Noirot was not breathing, according to the East Jordan Police Department. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said the residence was not Noirot's home, but declined to say who lived there.

County Prosecutor John Jarema said the county's drug investigation team is awaiting toxicology results.

"We just need final word on the cause of death,” he said. "It looks like we'll probably be filing charges on this one.”

A recently enacted state law allows prosecutors to seek a potential life-sentence in cases where suppliers of fatal overdose victims can be identified.

Still pending is an investigation into the Jan. 14 death of Roberta Jane King, 46. The Boyne City woman was the ex-wife of Robert King, who is doing time in federal prison for his role in fatal prescription overdoses in both Charlevoix and Cheboygan counties.

Meanwhile, charges against a man suspected of giving Roberta King drugs — though not the drugs that killed her — have been dismissed.

He was never implicated in Roberta King's death, but police initially charged Christopher Hefty, 27, with drug delivery because a note found near King's body implied Hefty supplied her with prescription sedatives a few days prior to her death.

Klonopin, the drug Hefty was suspected of giving to King, was not a factor in her death. Jarema's office dismissed the case last week.

Hefty's attorney said prosecutors "jumped the gun.”

"All they basically had … was statements (from Hefty) with no corroborating evidence. The rules state that if they can't prove a crime occurred, outside of statements, they can't prosecute,” said Mary Beth Kur. "I've maintained from the beginning that my client had nothing to do with this woman's death.”