WESTFIELD – A city man, who allegedly sold heroin to a Westfield High School junior who died from an overdose, is out on bail.
Seth Lombard-Hawthorne’s mother, Dana Cassidy, posted $5,000 cash bail Monday afternoon a couple hours after he was arraigned in Westfield District Court.
“The family can maybe come up with $1,000 cash,” said his court-appointed attorney Kathleen Cavanaugh at Lombard-Hawthorne’s arraignment.
Assistant District Attorney Edward Kivari had asked Westfield District Court Judge Philip Contant for $10,000 cash bail.
Lombard-Hawthorne, 22, was arrested shortly after 5:30 p.m. February 6 by Westfield Police Department and Massachusetts State Police assigned to Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni’s Office on charges of distribution of Class A drug and possession of Class A drug just hours after Westfield High School 11th grader Lillian (Lily) Anderson, 16, was found dead from a suspected heroin overdose.
“Pending an autopsy, the Commonwealth is contemplating an additional charge of manslaughter based on a series of events, circumstances and facts leading up to the death of this young lady and (pending) post-death investigation by Westfield police and Mass State Police,” Assistant District Attorney Edward Kivari told Westfield District Court Judge Philip Contant.
Westfield Police logs show a medical emergency call was received at 10:09 a.m. Saturday morning when Anderson was found unconscious and not breathing.
“A lot of what-ifs are certainly hanging out there with regards to whether or not they can even make a connection between the cause of her death and the heroin that he may have shared with her,” Cavanaugh said.
She called the bail “excessive” since the defendant has no prior arrests and said, “the bail is based on potential charges that may be forthcoming” plus “my defendant fully cooperated with police” by driving to the police department and allowing officers to search his car and cell phone.
Kivari said that Lombard-Hawthorne was identified through a contact in Anderson’s cell phone, which was found near her body, and by witnesses.
When police searched the defendant’s vehicle, three heroin packets labeled “American Gangster” were found in the vehicle’s ash tray. Heroin packets labeled “Gucci” and “American Gangster” were found in bed with Anderson’s body, he said.
The defendant and victim worked together at the N. Elm Street McDonald’s, and allegedly Anderson began using heroin with Lombard-Hawthorne, Kivari said.
Allegedly the sale took place on February 5 using the social media site “Snapchat,” according to Kirvari.
He said that one of Anderson’s friends called Lily’s mother Friday night to inform her of her daughter’s heroin use. The mother confronted her daughter around 10 p.m. Friday night, which is the last time she saw Lily alive.
Lombard-Hawthorne nearly died from a drug overdose last March, according to Cavanaugh and Kivari.
Cavanaugh said, “this indicates that a young man was perhaps suffering from some type of addiction himself.”
Kivari used the defendant’s overdose to show he has a history of drug use, but Cavanaugh reiterated that Lombard-Hawthorne has never been in court system prior to these charges.
Cavanaugh said her client, a high school graduate, lives with his mother and three siblings and has two jobs at two local restaurants where he works approximately seven days per week.
Lombard-Hawthorne will be back in court on March 8 for a pre-trial conference.
Staff Writer Christine Charnosky can be reached at [email protected]
