A Lehigh Valley drug counselor who gave clean urine to a client she was dating so he could pass a drug test — which he took shortly before dying from a heroin overdose — will now go behind bars.
Authorities had sought a three-month county jail term for Kristianna Belotto. But a judge sentenced her Monday to 11 ½ to 23 months, saying she earned the extra time because she disrupted Michael Rubery's treatment.
The 26-year-old Bethlehem woman pleaded guilty in April to tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and furnishing drug-free urine.
Detectives who searched Rubery's cellphone after his October 2017 death found more than 23,000 texts between him and Belotto. The messages indicated they were in a sexual relationship, that she had given him clean urine and warned him a warrant was issued for his arrest.
