WESTFIELD – A city man is being held on drug charges and may end up facing manslaughter charges for allegedly providing heroin to a 16-year-old who died over the weekend.
Seth R. Lombard-Hawthorne, 22, was held in lieu of $5,000 cash bail after being arraigned in Westfield District Court on Monday. The prosecution had requested $10,000 cash bail.
“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.
Lombard-Hawthorne was arrested around 5:30 p.m. Saturday 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 junior Lillian (Lily) Anderson was found dead from a suspected heroin overdose.
Westfield Police logs show a medical emergency call was received at 10:09 a.m. Saturday morning after Anderson’s mother found her daughter 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,” Lombard-Hawthorne’s court-appointed attorney Kathleen Cavanaugh said.
Cavanaugh called the bail “excessive” and requested $1,000 cash bail or personal surety. The defendant has no priors and “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 list in Anderson’s cell phone, which was found near her body, and by witnesses.
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 Lombard-Hawthorne told police he sold a bundle or 10 bags of “American Gangster” heroin to Anderson on February 5 using the messaging app Snapchat, according to Kirvari.
Heroin packets labeled “Gucci” and “American Gangster” were found in bed with Anderson’s body, Kivari said.
When police searched the defendant’s vehicle, three heroin packets labeled “American Gangster” were found in the vehicle’s ash tray.
Kivari 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.”
Cavanaugh said her client, a high school graduate, lives with his mother and three siblings and has 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]
