Posted on 08/17/2005 11:44:14 AM PDT by BurbankKarl
Two college coeds used cocaine with a pair of convicted drug dealers and had fresh needle marks on their arms when they overdosed in a lower East Side apartment, sources said yesterday.
Police believe a bad batch of heroin may have contributed to the deaths of Mellie Carballo and Maria Pesantez, both 18 and with promising futures.
It was unclear who supplied the drugs, but heartbroken relatives of the victims blamed Roberto Martinez, 41, and Alfredo (Tito) Morales, 33, who were with the teens Friday when the students apparently overdosed.
"How is it possible that they are free?" asked distraught father Juan Carlos Pesantez outside the family's home in Jackson Heights, Queens. "With those [criminal] records? With two girls dead?"
Carballo, a second-semester student at Hunter College, and Pesantez, an NYU sophomore, were found about 6 p.m. Friday in an apartment at 484 E. Houston St. Carballo died 20 minutes later and Pesantez died Sunday.
The men admitted doing cocaine with the women, who met at St. Vincent Ferrer High School in Manhattan, a law enforcement source said.
Martinez, who placed a bouquet of red roses in front of the E. Houston St. apartment yesterday, told a different story to the Daily News. He said he came to the apartment, where Morales lives, after Morales called him in a panic.
"I saw [Pesantez] in the bedroom catching a seizure," Martinez said yesterday. "I tried to give her mouth-to-mouth and then I called 911."
Martinez said he met Carballo at a bar about a month ago and didn't meet Pesantez until Friday. He denied giving the women drugs, saying they brought drugs to Morales' apartment.
No one has been arrested and toxicology results are pending.
Morales was convicted in 1995 of possession of cocaine with intent to sell. Martinez, whose is on parole, has 13 narcotics arrests.
The coeds' friends told cops the women wanted to try heroin, a police source said. The friends also told police that Carballo, a former MTV intern, and Pesantez, a pianist and National Honor Society member, had done drugs before.
Relatives dispute that account.
"To my knowledge, she had never experimented with anything," said Celeste Carballo, 21, who shared a room with her sister at the family's West Side apartment.
College students Mellie Carballo (left) and Maria Pesantez, both 18, in an undated photo. The coeds died of suspected drug overdoses in a lower East Side apartment
Photos taken from memorial at http://www.lastnightsparty.com/mellie/index.html
This site has changed dramatically.
I've read it -- the thinking works like this --
A)Wow, look at those two dead girls in a housing project. They look like my kids. They look like people I know.
B) Could that happen to my kids/people I know? That's troubling.
C)Oh wait, they're in NYC. They're moral degenerates. They aren't like my kids or people I know.
D)Well, at least it can't happen to my kids or people I know, they're not moral degenerates or in NYC.
I've read it -- the thinking works like this --
A)Wow, look at those two dead girls in a housing project. They look like my kids. They look like people I know.
B) Could that happen to my kids/people I know? That's troubling.
C)Oh wait, they're in NYC. They're moral degenerates. They aren't like my kids or people I know.
D)Well, at least it can't happen to my kids or people I know, they're not moral degenerates or in NYC.
You are a true christian.
"You are a true christian."
Yes I am, minus the blinders.
You know I am Catholic and I believe Faith without Works is Dead. I know however that Grace precedes all that. I have been graced that this evil did not befall me. I know it is Grace that, I am who I am, and not one of these girls or one of the billions of unfortunates in this world. I could have been born into a totally different reality and I am not above sin and death.
I have been sober since October 12, 1984 by the Grace of God. It could have been otherwise, believe me.
I have pity for these girls and am not "happy they have been removed from the gene pool". I am sorry the gift of life was stripped from them. It was their decisions but those decisions were made from the life they were born into.
Sigh
As I said before, the city isn't kind to the naive or the stupid. At this point, the city's pretty deceptive. It seems safer than ever, etc. but the bad stuff persists. They just happened to be young enough not to consider the possibility of consequences. This is a thing that happens every day. All over the country.
"I am sorry the gift of life was stripped from them. It was their decisions but those decisions were made from the life they were born into."
...............................
Talk about "sigh".
How do you KNOW the details of "the life they were born into"? Were you personally there all eighteen years? You're a contradiction in terms.
I cited trubluolyguy's quote only to show that he was, openly and proudly, mocking their deaths, rebutting his denial of having done so.
You're welcome to mock their deaths too if it makes you feel better. But, will you then deny doing so as he did?
I know exactly what you mean. We have a few of these druggies where I work...they come in cranky, lethargic and irritable until they get their first caffeine fix of the day.
Then it's every hour after that, as they continue to maintain the optimum level of the drug in their system.
Before long, they are fully dosed, and become high strung and manic.
The other drug users are just as bad...they get their fixes on a more or less hourly basis as well.
At least I don't have to watch these nicotine junkies as they deliver the deadly drug to their bloodstream, sighing with pleasure and release as the addictive drug reaches their nicotine-starved brains. Our company banishes these fiends to the outdoors in order for them to get their fixes.
Yeah, those druggies are a pain in the ass alright.
People use heroin because it makes them feel really, really good. That's why.
But the **motivation** for having/controlling heroin (creating it, stealing it, buying it, selling it, giving it away, etc.) is for ugly guys to get laid by pretty girls (or boys, as the case may be in some areas). Ditto for speed.
Neither drug **makes** pretty young co-eds get all randy, mind you, but any drug that creates its own demand (see: ecstasy) is ripe for exploitation. That's why these drugs inevitably find their way into the parties, homes, and nightclubs frequented by the most desirable flesh.
Each drug, in its own way, induces powerful feelings that could slightly cloud user judgement...a plus to a predator seeking prey. Each drug also has a price, which the young and poor may find necessary to pay with non-cash means (read: prostitution, petty theft, etc.).
A little cocaine, a little booze, some good music...and all of a sudden the old fat toothless guy doesn't look like such a bad option to the pretty young thing who wants to have some more chemical fun.
Evidence?!
You ask what **evidence** I've presented?!
Good grief, this phenomenon is where we get the phrase "crack whore."
It's so prevalent that we've even got slang for this process: "crack ho."
I'd suggest an evening of watching Morton Downey Jr. (who should know!) in Less Than Zero to watch what happens to a straight white kid who can't afford to pay cash for his highs any longer (i.e. he is forced into male, gay prostitution).
That's probably the lightest-hearted way to see what I'm talking about, as other methods might be a bit rough for the squeamish.
The behaviors you cite could apply equally to bars, nightclubs, jazz and rock concerts, harmonic convergences, summer trips to Aruba, and a lot of other things, even without illegal drugs of any kind. (That is, not even including Greatful Dead concerts, raves, etc.) These things also make people feel good, they lower inhibitions, they provide environments ripe for plucking by predatory people, etc. You have far from made your case. Incidentally, crack whores aren't "beautiful women" by any stretch of the imagination, so it's hardly the irrefutable proof you think.
Drugs and prostitution, combined, tend to rapidly degrade the looks of a person over a reasonably short period of time.
But those are the girls who are already caught in the web. The girls who are initially targeted, on the other hand, tend to be more desirable in looks, dress, hygene, and age.
For instance, the convicted drug dealers who, according to the article for this thread, made "numerous" offers to these two girls with invitations to parties, access to heroin, etc., weren't targeting girls who have already lost their looks to drugs and prostitution.
...And yes, it is true that other things besides drugs can lead youth to become exploited by predators. Few things are as successful as drugs, but yes, other things probably work, too.
Just be sure to fight for otc status for ALL drugs. No more scripts. No more age limits; it follows logically from the debate you are just itching for - after all, how dare the government infringe on society’s right to self medicate with anything for any reason. But be careful what you ask for, you may get it.
BTW, if you save the lines from that argument in word you can cut and paste to save time when you do get someone to bite.
You, sir, are making way too much sense. I appreciate the comments.
False premise. Try again.
I guess we can file this one under the media's fasicnation with "When Bad Things Happen To Pretty White Girls".
And that was a bad thing? How are our Chinese immigrant friends doing today?
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