On Thursday, Troy Nokes, 35, was arrested and hit with 28 charges in connection to the February 1 death of his nephew. According to Camden County prosecutors, the charges included manslaughter, employing a juvenile in a drug distribution scheme, and endangering the welfare of a child.
The 12-year-old boy died of a drug overdose after being forced to clean his uncle’s drug lab. Prosecutors said the youngster died of a fentanyl overdose last month after being forced to clean the lab without using any gloves.
On January 24, 2022, detectives from Camden County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit and Gloucester Twp. Police Department was notified that a 12-year-old boy was found unresponsive on his school bus.
Authorities said, eight days after he was found unresponsive on his school bus in Gloucester Township, the 12-year-old died.
The child died of a fentanyl overdose, an autopsy determined.
Nokes was accused of operating a “controlled dangerous substance production facility” out of his Blackwood home that his nephew and him shared.
Prosecutors said Nokes allegedly made the potent opioid and then told the boy to clean up the drug paraphernalia containing fentanyl on the weekend before the boy’s overdose.
Witnesses told officials the boy did not wear gloves.
According to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, consuming just 0.002 grams of fentanyl results in “certain death.”
Joanna Johnson, Nokes’ co-defendant, was charged with tampering with evidence and protecting the alleged killer from police.
Both Nokes and Johnson were arrested by the United States Marshals Service Regional Fugitive Task Force (RFTF). They are currently being held at the Camden County Correctional Facility pending a pretrial detention hearing.