Fatal drug case advances

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July 14, 2008

<a href="mailto:avanvalkenburg@pressrepublican.com">By ANDREA VanVALKENBURG</a> The Press Republican Mon Jul 14, 2008, 05:13 PM EDT

PLATTSBURGH — A grand jury will soon hear the case against a Plattsburgh man accused of giving prescriptions to a local teen who later overdosed and died.

After hearing a range of testimony and reviewing evidence presented during a seven-hour preliminary hearing, Plattsburgh City Court Judge Penelope Clute ruled Monday there was sufficient evidence to have the case against Scott Miller transferred to Clinton County Court.

Four prosecution witnesses testified during the two-day hearing and detailed the events that led up to the 29-year-old’s arrest on felony and misdemeanor charges last month.

City Police began investigating Miller within hours of when 17-year-old Julia Del Signore was found dead from an apparent overdose June 6.

During a subsequent search of Miller’s Clinton Street apartment, police allegedly found more than 1,600 pills hidden in a utility room.

According to City Court records, Miller later admitted he gave the teen OxyContin and Dilaudid painkillers a few hours before she died after having consumed a range of medications throughout the day.

Testimony and court records indicate the pills Miller allegedly gave her were the last ones she consumed before she was found dead at her boyfriend’s Seth Square home.

Miller later told police he bought the drugs on the street because he was “addicted to pills and opiates.”

Though his attorney, Brian Barrett, said Miller was hospitalized in the intensive-care unit at CVPH Medical Center only days before his arrest, no evidence has been presented that Miller was prescribed any of the medications.

At the time of Miller’s arrest, police allegedly found him in possession of about 912 Dilaudid pills and another 825 pills that were initially believed to have been OxyContins, though later testing revealed they contained alprazolam and ketamine and were not OxyContin.

Police said the medications were worth more than $65,000.

It was unclear Monday afternoon when the case will be presented to a grand jury for their consideration.

Miller, who has a felony record and has served time in prison for assault, continues to be held at the Clinton County Jail without bail.

Del Signore’s 19-year-old boyfriend, Michael Warren, continues to face a felony evidence-tampering charge and two misdemeanor drug-related charges in connection with the teen’s death.

Warren, who was visibly upset when he testified Friday afternoon, has been released on bail and will return to court in early August to face the charges.

E-mail Andrea VanValkenburg at:

avanvalkenburg@pressrepublican.com