Crime & Courts

Anchorage man who injected teen girl with fatal dose of heroin pleads guilty

An Anchorage man who faced multiple charges in federal court after injecting a teenage girl with a fatal dose of heroin in December 2011 has pleaded guilty to distribution of the drug.

Sean Michael Warner, a 28-year-old Navy veteran, pleaded guilty to a single count that previously accused him of heroin distribution resulting in a death. As part of the plea, he admitted to the allegation but no longer faces a minimum of 20 years in prison, said assistant district attorney Kimberly Sayers-Fay.

"(Warner) will admit that he knowingly distributed heroin to a 14-year-old girl, and that his distribution of heroin caused that girl's death," according to the plea agreement.

The distribution charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, Sayers-Fay said.

The government recommended a sentence between 13 and 18 years, according to the plea agreement. Prosecutors also agreed to propose downgrading Warner's sentence for his acceptance of the crime.

The remaining five charges, which included distribution of heroin within 1,000 feet of an elementary school, Turnagain Elementary, and selling to someone younger than 21, were dismissed.

Warner injected Jena Dolstad at her request Dec. 22, 2011, according to charging documents. She was found facedown in vomit the next morning. She died six days later at a hospital, according to an Anchorage Daily News story. Warner was also charged in state court for injecting another girl who was 17 years old.

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Anchorage police charged and jailed Warner, and a state grand jury indicted him on charges of manslaughter and evidence tampering. However, federal prosecutors were taking a look at the case.

An alleged accomplice, Max Raymond Jewett, was indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2013. He was on the run for about a month until a federal fugitive task force caught up with him in Peters Creek. Authorities said Jewett grew out his hair and painted it, and his beard, gray in an attempt to look older.

The state dropped its charges against the men, opting to let federal prosecutors pursue the case.

Warner's sentencing is set for Feb. 23, 2015. Jewett pleaded not guilty to similar charges, and his trial is set for Jan. 20, 2015.

Jerzy Shedlock

Jerzy Shedlock is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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