A 41-year-old man admitted he dumped the body of a overdose victim behind a dumpster of a Apartment Complex in Bensalem last year.
Maksim Stankevich pleaded guilty Friday to charges of abuse of a corpse, theft and receiving stolen property before Common Pleas Judge Raymond F. McHugh.
Comparing the defendant’s actions to that of an animal, McHugh sentenced Stankevich to one year, less a day, to two years, less a day, in the Bucks County Correctional Facility.
McHugh said that once Stankevich was lost in the depths of drug abuse, he lost the ability to care for or have any consideration for his fellow human being.
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Stankevich was charged in October following an investigation by Bensalem authorities after a 40 year-old man overdosed on September 16 in his Bensalem apartment.
The man was later identified as Dean Alexander DeJesus.
Stankevich left the body behind a red dumpster and was covered by a black and gray blanket that was secured to the body with blue nylon rope, instead of calling for help, according to police.
As a result of the investigation, Bensalem detectives contacted Stankevich on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021, and he told them that DeJesus had been at his apartment at 3307 Johns Court and asked to use the bathroom and found him deceased on his bathroom floor.
Stankevich then removed DeJesus from his apartment and placed him in a garbage can, which he used to move the body from 3307 Johns Court to the Townhomes at Gateway apartment complex, approximately a ½ mile away, the complaint states. There, he left the body behind the dumpster.
Camera footage from the apartment complex confirms the incident happened between 4:43 a.m. and 5:50 a.m. on Sept. 16, 2021. On Oct. 5, 2021, Stankevich was found to be in possession of the victim’s Motorola G7 cell phone, a Puma backpack and two T-shirts for a combined value of $145.
“With the immunity that the good Samaritan law provides people for reporting drug overdoses, this defendant’s failure to report Mr. DeJesus’s overdose to authorities is inexcusable,” District Attorney Matt Weintraub said. “Drug overdose or not, everyone’s life matters to someone, no matter the manner in which that life was lost. Once deceased, Mr. DeJesus deserved to be treated with more dignity that he was given,” said after Stankevich’s arrest.