Woman charged with manslaughter after giving man drug containing cocaine, fentanyl that killed him, cops say

An Osprey woman who provided a drug that she knew contained fentanyl and cocaine to a man who died in January has been charged with manslaughter, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office.

Detectives say that Lisa Ross gave 39-year-old Michael Galler a narcotic on Jan. 6 that had fentanyl and cocaine mixed together, which he injected. He began to have a seizure, detectives said, and was transported to a nearby hospital, where he died two days later.

After a nearly yearlong investigation, detectives determined that Ross, 40, knew the substance could be harmful but gave it to Galler anyway. She faces a felony charge of homicide-negligence manslaughter and was transported Thursday to the Sarasota County Jail, where she is being held without bail.

According to investigators, Galler met Ross at a Sarasota residence around 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 6. She gave Galler the drug and shortly after injecting it, he started having seizures, Ross told detectives.

She asked her roommate to call 911.

It was later found that the drug had trace amounts of Benzolyecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, and .59 ml of furanylfentanyl, an opioid derivative, detectives said.

The medical examiner eventually determined that Galler died from deprivation fo oxygen due to the combined effects of fentanyl and cocaine.

Detectives say that Ross knew the drug had fentanyl in it as she was told so by the dealer, according to the report.

This story was originally published December 15, 2017 at 10:33 AM with the headline "Woman charged with manslaughter after giving man drug containing cocaine, fentanyl that killed him, cops say."