Self
Nearly a year after his co-defendant accepted a plea agreement, a Seymour man who admits being partially responsible for a fatal drug overdose followed suit in Bartholomew Superior Court 1.
Ryan Alex Self, 36, plead guilty to dealing in a narcotic drug as a Level 5 felony when he appeared Monday before Bartholomew Superior Court 1 Judge James Worton. The defendant is accused of purchasing a variety of narcotics and supplying at least one of the drugs to Ronald Lee Smith of Columbus. Smith died of a drug overdose on July 8, 2022.
The charge is substantially less severe than the Level 1 felony of dealing in a controlled substance resulting in death that was dropped by prosecutors. A Level 1 conviction is punishable by up to 40 years in prison, while a Level 5 felony calls for one to six years of incarceration.
Sentencing for Self has been scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 8.
Co-defendant Tiffany Marie Sculley, 36, was given a suspended three-year sentence in February after pleading guilty of aiding, inducing or causing the dealing of a narcotic drug.
However, on March 19, a petition was filed to revoke the probation of the Freetown woman after she was charged with domestic battery in Jackson County. In a separate case filed in September, Sculley was charged with theft and criminal mischief.
Investigators say Sculley drove Smith and Self to a location in Louisville, Kentucky, in July 2022. After their arrival at a residence, Self purchased methamphetamine, heroin/fentanyl and Suboxone, according to a probable cause affidavit. After the drug deal was completed, Self supplied Smith with at least one of the narcotics.
A short time later, 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 sentence on charges of criminal recklessness on a separate case. A more serious charge of kidnapping was dropped.
Due to the Bartholomew County case, Self’s probation in Jackson County was revoked on Nov. 15, 2022.
