York Town News
Fisher gets 12 years in drug death
Separate civil suit filed
By Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK - It was a tragedy in every sense of the word.That is how York Police Chief Douglas Bracy described the 2004 death of 17-year-old Bethany Fritz from a heroin overdose.
Tragic, too, Bracy said, is the reality that drug use has cost another young person, Scott Fisher, his freedom for the next 12 years.
Fisher was sentenced in U.S. District Court on Monday, July 17, after pleading guilty to federal drug charges, including one alleging he supplied the heroin that ultimately cost his teenage girlfriend her life.
Fisher received 12 years out of a maximum 20-year sentence on the charges after the judge reviewed recommendations from Fisher's defense attorney, Helene Karzanjian of the U.S. Attorney's office and such documentation as letters written on behalf of the defendant.
The U.S. Attorney's Office had requested a term in federal prison of 14 years, while Fisher's attorney had requested 10 years.
"A 12-year sentence is a very harsh sentence," Bracy said of the court's decision, adding the term would be followed by five years of supervised release and other conditions.
And as one case has ended, a York County Superior Court clerk has confirmed a new one is beginning. According to the clerk, a civil suit was filed in June by Barry and Roxanne Fritz, parents of Bethany Fritz, against the friend Fritz stayed with on the day before her death. The then-17-year-old girl's parents are also named in the suit.
No trial date has been set in the case, as the deadline for discovery - the pre-trial process where the two parties involved request relevant information and documents from the other side - is ongoing until February of 2007.
The case has been filed in civil court for an undisclosed sum in damages, alleging negligence on the part of the family for not seeking medical attention for Fritz in a timely manner.
Fisher is not named in the suit.
York Detective Tom Cryan was the lead investigator during the past two years of investigation into Fritz's death and Fisher's part in providing the heroin she used prior to her death. Cryan said the judge's sentence came in exactly at the midpoint of the requests by the U.S. Attorney's Office and the defense.
"The only thing I can say is my detectives worked very hard to bring this case to a conclusion," Bracy said of the outcome. "When this happened, it was something we didn't want to see here in York and we vowed to do everything we could to resolve this and prevent it from happening again."
Bracy praised Cryan, Detective Mark Clifford, the Kittery Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Agency for their work in bringing the case to a conclusion , as well as the state police in assisting the initial investigation of Fritz's death.
Bracy said the case is a tragedy all the way around - for both the Fisher and Fritz families. His department's goal, he said, is to fight the tide of drugs flowing into York in order to prevent other young people - and their families - from enduring what the Fisher and Fritz families have faced in the past two years.
Looking to the future, Bracy said, "We want to send a strong message to the young people in this area that we aren't going to tolerate this type of activity. … Drugs are something that we're very hard on, and we're going to continue to work hard with all the agencies to stem the flow. It's a problem all up and down the coast. … It's everywhere."
