MONTICELLO — Acting Sullivan County District Attorney (DA), Brian Conaty, announced the indictment of  Jimmie Luvert, and Lisa Keitt for 2nd degree manslaughter last Thursday, May 18, in connection with the overdose death of their 16 month old daughter, Akaasha Luvert.

As previously reported by the Democrat, the Village of Liberty Police, along with Emergency Medical Services, responded to a 911 call for a child in cardiac arrest at the Knights Inn Motel on State Route 52 in Liberty at approximately 7:30 on the night of May 2. 

The Liberty Police Department arrested Lisa Keitt, 26, and 41-year-old Jimmie Luvert after responding officers found a 16-month-old female child unconscious and unresponsive in the lobby of the motel. 

In addition, Conaty announced the additional arrest of the child’s grandmother, Lisa Ferdico-Vizard, for allegedly smoking crack-cocaine in front of the child, as well as the alleged dealer of the deadly fentanyl dose, Jacob McCoy, who has three prior felony convictions and ten prior misdemeanor convictions.

The tragic death of Akassha has ignited questioning from the DA’s office on the effectiveness of the involvement of the County’s Child Protective Services Department (CPS).

Conaty revealed that upon further investigation his office had discovered that Keitt’s and Luvert’s children have been under CPS care since the time of their birth, even requesting their removal on 3 separate occasions. Conaty then explained that Sullivan County Attorney Michael McGuire ignored CPS’ requests to remove the children. 

“Under his (McGuire’s) regime, he created a culture of widespread apathy that has discouraged the workers from bringing forth the appropriate requests to remove children,” stated Conaty.

Conaty then went on and stated that the County needs significant improvements to the way Fentanyl cases are handled which will require “bold ideas, vision, and leadership.”

He stressed the need for a Substance Use Disorder Unit within the Family Violence Response team within the Department of Social Services so that child neglect cases involving narcotics will be handled in a similar manner as domestic sexual and violence cases. Conaty pushed for the reinstatement of the Department of Social Services legal department, therefore stripping the power to deny child neglect cases away from the County Attorney. 

Conaty also announced the implementation of a new policy within his office called the Fentanyl Five, stating anyone caught involved with the selling of Fentanyl within Sullivan County will face a minimum sentence of five years in prison. 

“I am the chief law enforcement officer in this county and my office has been, and will continue to be, at the forefront of the battle to end the opioid Epidemic once and for all. I will not tolerate anybody who seeks to sell fentanyl for their own personal gain at the expense of the entire Sullivan County Community”, stated Conaty. “As long as I’m the District Attorney of Sullivan County it is my pledge to you that I will protect our children and go after the people who spread this poison in our county.”

When asked, County Attorney McGuire said he was unable to comment on the matter before the time of publication.