A former US Army soldier was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison on Thursday for supplying a fatal dose of the party drug Molly to a young woman at the Electric Zoo music festival in 2018.
In the remote sentencing hearing in Manhattan federal court, drug dealer Lagaria Slaughter broke down as he apologized for peddling the poison that caused 20-year-old Katherine Schlegel to overdose at the electric music festival on Randall’s Island.
“I want the family and friends of the victim to know that the person I was back then is not who I am, but a selfish and inconsiderate child wrapped up in something I should not have been,” Slaughter said after pausing to collect himself.
Slaughter, a specialist in the Army who was kicked out after his arrest, added that he’s been diagnosed with “bipolar depression,” but has found work in a care home since he was relieved of duty.
“I spent the rest of my military career trapped inside my depression as I tried to cope with the events that had taken place,” he said.
Slaughter, who in 2018 was stationed at Fort Drum in upstate New York, traveled to the city the weekend of the festival with another soldier, who arranged to buy 57 molly tablets to use with Schlegel and her friend at the gig.
Schlegel — a college student from New Cannan, Conn., who was not a regular drug user — overdosed and died two days later at a New York City hospital.
Her mother, Elena Schlegel, said at the sentencing hearing she remains devastated by her daughter’s premature death.
“I will be forever haunted, thinking about her just trapped in her last moments. Was she scared? Was she conscious? Was she wondering where I was?” she said.
“Our daughter was the most beautiful, loving, young lady you could ever know. She loved going to concerts. She loved music. She was not a regular drug user,” she added.
Investigators who searched Slaughter’s barracks prior to his arrest recovered 10 capsules of Molly, 55 doses of LSD, psychedelic mushrooms, a scale and other drug-packaging paraphernalia, authorities said.
He’ll be required to turn himself in at a federal prison facility in April, the judge ordered Thursday.
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