An Islip Terrace teenager has been indicted on manslaughter and other charges for allegedly injecting his 19-year-old girlfriend with heroin, causing her to fatally overdose six months ago, Nassau County prosecutors said.
Joseph Joudah, 19, was charged with second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, criminal injection of a narcotic drug, reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminally possessing a hypodermic instrument.
Prosecutors said Joudah accompanied his girlfriend and Hofstra University classmate, Olivia McClellan, to her dorm room, where he allegedly injected McClellan with heroin into her left hand at 6:30 p.m. on April 1.
Joudah knew that McClellan had taken a legally obtained prescription medicine and that she had once attempted suicide by taking heroin, authorities said. Despite this knowledge, when McClellan’s eyes rolled back, she had difficulty breathing and her legs shook uncontrollably, he allegedly took heroin himself and then left, according to investigators.
The next day, when McClellan did not respond to Joudah’s texts and calls, he anonymously called campus security, which responded to McClellan’s dorm, where officers found her dead in her bed, prosecutors said. Autopsy results showed McClellan died of a heroin overdose.
Nassau police and prosecutors then launched a joint investigation that resulted in the indictment.
Judge Angelo Delligatti set bail for Joudah at $10,000 bond or $5,000 cash. If convicted, he faces a up to 15 years in prison. He is due back in court on Nov. 23.
