Self
A Seymour man accused of being responsible for a fatal drug overdose two-and-a-half years ago is scheduled back in court Monday.
Ryan Alex Self, 36, is scheduled for a pre-trial conference or change of plea when he appears before Bartholomew Superior Court 1 Judge James Worton at 10:45 a.m. Monday. He’s charged with dealing in a controlled substance resulting in death – a Level 1 felony punishable by up to 40 years in prison.
Self is accused of purchasing a variety of narcotics and supplying at least one of them to Ronald Lee Smith of Columbus. Smith died of a drug overdose on July 8, 2022.
Co-defendant Tiffany Marie Sculley of Brownstown was initially charged with dealing in a narcotic drug as a Level 5 felony. In January, she was offered a plea bargain that allowed her to receive a suspended 3 year sentence.
But a petition to revoke her probation was filed March 19 shortly after she was arrested a few weeks earlier in Jackson County on separate cases involving theft, domestic battery and criminal mischief.
Investigators say Sculley drove Smith and Self to a location in Louisville, Kentucky, where Self purchased methamphetamine, heroin/fentanyl and Suboxone before supplying Smith with at least one of the illegal narcotics .
Smith’s body was found within a tent in a homeless camp along a walking path near Tellman Camp Road. An autopsy indicated the victim accidentally died of acute fentanyl intoxication.
Just a few weeks after Smith’s death, Self was in the courtroom of Jackson Circuit Court Judge Richard Poynter, where he received a two-year suspended on charges of criminal recklessness on a separate case. A more serious charge of kidnapping was dropped.
Due to the Bartholomew County case, Smith’s probation in Jackson County was revoked on Nov. 15, 2022.
