A South Carolina drug dealer has been sentenced to more than 24 years in prison for selling narcotics to a depressed teenager — then helping her use them to kill herself, according to prosecutors.
Anthony “A.J.” Hunt, 24, sold depressed 19-year-old Rachel Bandman oxycodone as well as other painkillers and anxiety meds despite knowing she planned to die by suicide, according to The State.
He then texted her tips as she made three attempts on her life — with her finally using his drugs to fatally overdose on Jan. 28, 2016, at her University of South Carolina student apartment.
Text messages between the pair, who met at the university campus in Columbia before Hunt dropped out, were read in court as he was sentenced last Wednesday to 24 years and five months in prison.
“I need more for it to happen,” Bandman wrote to him after one failed suicide attempt, according to the report, with her also texting, “It’s just frustrating that I can’t die.”
Hunt then sold Bandman oxycodone and instructed her to take it along with wine and Nyquil to be fatal, the court heard, with prosecutors saying he gave her “detailed instructions.”
“Hunt had an opportunity to help Ms. Bandman,” Assistant US Attorney Ben Garner said, according to The State. “Not only did he not help her, but he provided instructions to commit suicide.”
Hunt had $10,000 in cash and a .45-caliber pistol when he was arrested in March 2017. He pleaded guilty to the distribution of oxycodone resulting in death, prosecutors said.
“AJ Hunt’s distribution of oxycodone destroyed two young lives and shattered two families,” US Attorney Sherri A. Lydon said in a statement.
