A 40-year-old man has pleaded guilty to supplying a man with the drugs that killed him in 2023, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced on Friday.

During a hearing held Monday before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Jill G. O’Malley, Paul R. Clites, of Jackson, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree reckless manslaughter and one count of third-degree distribution of a controlled dangerous substance.

On Friday, Dec. 22, 2023, at 12:44 p.m., Howell Township police responded to a call from a home on Westbrook Road for an unresponsive adult male.  Upon arrival, officers found the victim dead in his bedroom.

A joint investigation detectives of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and the Howell Township police revealed that Clites had been communicating with the victim during the period leading up to his death. The investigation further revealed that the victim had obtained drugs from Clites prior to his death.

Sentencing in this case is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, at which time the state intends to recommend a term of eight years in state prison on the distribution charge, along with seven years on the reckless manslaughter charge, with the latter term also subject to the provisions of New Jersey’s No Early Release Act (NERA), which mandates that 85 percent of it be served prior to the possibility of parole.

The case is assigned to Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Cummings, Director of the Narcotics and Criminal Enterprise Investigation Unit. Clites is being represented by Shane Paugh, Esq., with an office in Middletown.

— Edited press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office

• Retro RFH Prom Posers
• Celebrating Frankie’s Fair Haven Legacy of Luck and Smiles
• Focus: Liberty Tree Takes Root in Fair Haven
• In Memoriam: Longtime Fair Havenite, Bill Mieth Jr., 83
• In Memoriam: Rumson-Raised Longtime Locust Resident, Sandy Halsey, 95