OCALA, Fla. – Nearly two years after a man died from a fentanyl overdose, Ocala police say they’ve arrested the dealer who supplied him with the drugs.
According to a news release from the police department, Nicholas Rubino was found unresponsive with no pulse in a restroom at Piesanos Pizza, where he worked, on Dec. 2, 2018 and was taken to an area hospital where he died two days later.
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Records show there was also a needle in the bathroom with Rubino that was filled with a fluid that tested positive for fentanyl.
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Rubino’s friends and family said he struggled with addiction and an autopsy confirmed that fentanyl toxicity led to his death.
Police said they were able to quickly identify David Gilchrist, 36, as the person who sold the deadly drugs to Rubino. Gilchrist admitted to making the deal as a way to support his own drug habit, according to a news release.
On Monday, a grand jury indicted Gilchrist on a murder charge, marking the third overdose death indictment in two years in Ocala.
“In the last few years, our state has been inflicted with great loss due to drug overdose cases. The numbers have been staggering. The city of Ocala has not been immune to this pandemic. OPD has responded to over 319 overdose calls over the past year, 38 of which resulted in the death of the victim, and 132 where OPD officers administered Narcan to save the victim’s life. In most all of our cases, fentanyl has been the primary contributor, if not the sole contributor, in all death cases in Ocala and Marion County,” police said in a news release.