VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Charges stemming from a deadly night in 2016 have led to one Virginia Beach woman being sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Sarah Mary Krmpotich, 40, has been sentenced to 10 years for charges of involuntary manslaughter, possession with intent to distribute schedule I/II class drug and violating conditions of release.
The first two of these three charges are related to an incident that took place on the night of Dec. 12, 2016.
According to a release from the Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, the victim, Robert Demnicki, came over to Krmpotich’s Virginia Beach home on Red Horse Lane on the night of Dec. 12 with the intent to use cocaine.
The already intoxicated Demnicki decided at this point to use a needle filled with heroin that was already in Krmpotich’s home. He was unable to inject it into his own arm. Krmpotich inserted the needle into his arm for him, but told him not to use the full amount as it was very strong.
Demnicki injected the full amount into his arm. A few moments later, Demnicki became unconscious and his eyes rolled back into his head.
According to the Commonwealth’s Attorney, Krmpotich did not call for rescue. Instead, she stood by as others put the victim in the passenger seat of his car and drove it to a nearby apartment complex, where she parked the car and left. The car remained for one month before the decomposing body was found on Jan. 12, 2017.
Demnicki’s cause of death was determined by a medical examiner to be a combined ethanol, cocaine and morphine poisoning. Morphine is the breakdown element of heroin which breaks down extremely quickly in the body.
Krmpotich has previously pleaded guilty to these charges.
Since this incident Krmpotich has been found to be in possession of heroin or cocaine on three separate instances in January, February and June 2017. This led to the final charge of violating conditions of release.
According to the court, Krmpotich also has prior convictions for burglary, credit card theft, credit card fraud, obtaining money under false pretenses and a number of traffic offenses.
This sentence greatly exceeds the recommendation of Virginia State Sentencing Guidelines, which recommends a sentence no greater than five years and nine months in prison.
The sentencing was announced by the Commonwealth’s Attorney for the city of Virginia Beach, Collin D. Stole, on Nov. 7.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Sarah Mary Krmpotich carried Robert Demnicki to the vehicle in which he was later found dead. According to the Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, others carried Demnicki, but not Krmpotich. Also, according to the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, Demnicki came over to the home to use cocaine, but not specifically with the intent of using it with Krmpotich. WAVY regrets the errors.
