2 charged in Athens County in overdose death

The woman thought she was purchasing heroin from the dealer who operated out of his residence in the Ohio River village of Hockingport.

But the heroin that the woman bought and then gave to her boyfriend, Greg Jackson, 25, at a service station in Little Hocking in Washington County on March 16 was actually pure fentanyl, said Meg Saunders, an assistant Athens County prosecutor.

Jackson quickly died of a fentanyl overdose in his car at the service station. The Athens County grand jury this week indicted Jackson’s girlfriend, Kayla Scadden, 27, of Madison, Alabama, and Jason A. Daugherty, 35, of Hockingport, on charges of involuntary manslaughter and corrupting another with drugs for supplying the fentanyl that caused Jackson’s death, Saunders said.

Daugherty had been indicted on seven felony offenses and one misdemeanor as a result of a Major Crimes Unit investigation, according to the Athens County sheriff’s office.

The additional drug charges accuse Daugherty of being a methamphetamine dealer. That drug was recovered along with almost $1,000 in cash when his Hockingport residence was searched on March 20, the sheriff’s office said.

Further investigation discovered that Daugherty also was involved in dealing heroin and his connection to the case involving Jackson’s death, Saunders said.

Daugherty was arraigned on the felony charges in Athens County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday. Scadden was arrested in Alabama and will soon be extradited to Ohio, Saunders said. She faces two felony drug charges in addition to involuntary manslaughter and corrupting another with drugs.