Great Neck man sentenced to prison after providing
heroin that led to two overdose deaths in Queens: DA
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TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | APRIL 16-APRIL 22, 2021 5
BY JACOB KAYE
A Great Neck man was sentenced
to six years in prison after after he
provided two people — his girlfriend
and a friend — with the heroin that
would go on to kill them both, Queens
District Attorney Melinda Katz
announced last week.
Justin Lum pleaded guilty to
charges of criminally negligent homicide
and drug possession in the separate
incidents in November 2020 and
was sentenced to an indeterminate
term of three to six years in prison in
Queens Criminal Court on Thursday,
April 8, according to Katz. In both
deaths, Lum had supplied the victims
with heroin shortly after they had recovered
from a previous overdose, the
charges state.
On April 27, 2017, Lum was went to
a movie theater with his 28-year-old
girlfriend Patricia Collado, according
to Katz. Using heroin before the
movie, the pair used again while sitting
inside a parked car outside of the
theater, according to the charges. Collado,
who was from Brooklyn, started
to experience an overdose and Lum
called for emergency services.
Collado was given Naloxone and taken
to a nearby hospital to be treated.
Lum arrived at the hospital and
stayed until Collado was discharged
around 11 p.m., according to Katz.
The pair went to Lum’s grandfather’s
house in Flushing, where they snorted
Lum’s heroin, according to Katz. Collado
almost immediately went into
cardiac arrest.
This time, according to the charges,
Lum didn’t call for medical care and
instead tried to revive Collado himself.
With Collado still in need of medical
attention, Lum continued to use drugs
until he fell asleep, Katz said. He woke
up at 8 a.m. the following morning to
find Collado unconscious. He then
called 911 and gave his girlfriend CPR
until EMS personnel arrived.
Collado was pronounced dead at the
scene. The medical examiner later determined
that she had died as a result
of an overdose of the combined effects
of fentanyl, heroin and cocaine.
A little less than a year later, on
March 1, 2018, Lum sold heroin to
Bayside resident Calvin Brown, the
charges state. Brown used the heroin
inside Lum’s home and immediately
had a medical emergency, according
to Katz.
Lum called 911 and gave 24-yearold
Brown CPR until medical help arrived.
Brown was taken to a nearby
hospital, given treatment and released
from the hospital almost a week later
on March 6.
On March 9, 2019, Brown went back
to Lum’s home and again bought heroin,
Katz said.
The next day, Brown’s mother
found the 24-year-old dead inside
their Queens home, according to the
charges.
The medical examiner later determined
that Brown had died of an
overdose of the combined effects of
heroin, alprazolam, diazepam and
phenobarbital.
Reach reporter Jacob Kaye by e-mail
at jkaye@schnepsmedia.com.
Photo via Getty Images
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