1 week Ago By Mike Jones
A Washington man pleaded guilty to providing fentanyl to a woman who ingested it and died last year. Alan Jay Gubanish appeared Wednesday at the Washington County Courthouse and pleaded guilty to felony drug delivery resulting in death and was sentenced by Judge Traci McDonald to serve four to eight years in a state prison. Gubanish supplied fentanyl to 31-year-old Casey Cole, who died Feb.
9, 2024, after she took the drugs at her North Franklin Street residence in Washington. City police reviewed Cole’s cellphone and found text messages with Gubanish arranging the purchase, along with other exchanges through a cash app on the phone. Gubanish later admitted his involvement when confronted by investigators, said Deputy District Attorney John Friedmann, who prosecuted the case.
“It was clear from our investigation of the case and certainly looking at the circumstances that Mr. Gubanish had developed some sort of reliance on narcotics, whether it was fentanyl or other opioids and it sort of spiraled from there,” Friedmann said. Gubanish, 36, was arrested and charged by city police about two weeks after Cole’s death, and he spent two months in the Washington County jail until his $100,000 cash bond was reduced to unsecured bail instead.
He was also facing charges of possession with intent to deliver and criminal use of a communications facility, both of which were withdrawn as part of the plea deal with prosecutors. Gubanish reported to the Washington County jail Thursday, and he will eventually be moved to state prison to serve the remainder of his sentence. His public defender, John Paul Vensel II, could not be reached for comment Friday.
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