At sentencing in connection to fatal overdose, Lincoln woman says she hit rock bottom

A Lincoln woman who ended up facing drug delivery charges following an investigation into a friend's overdose death last year told the judge at her sentencing Thursday that was her "rock bottom."

"And this is my up," 40-year-old Staci Foreman said. "I never really truly knew what it was like to hit rock bottom until now."

She said she's progressing now. She's in treatment. She hasn't been getting sanctions or getting kicked out of drug court, which she withdrew from after a previous drug case. She hasn't been sent back to jail on new charges after reverting back to using drugs.

"I really don't know what else to say, other than I'm sorry for the unfortunate events that happened," Foreman said, an apparent reference to 47-year-old Dennis Kerksten's death July 21, 2023.

Last year, Lincoln police arrested her for providing pills to him and to a woman who owns a child care center in town.

Foreman pleaded no contest to three counts of possession of controlled substances and attempted delivery.

On Thursday, her attorney, Abby Osborn, said: "We can't get around the death of Mr. Kerksten. If she could do anything to go back and change that ... she would have done that."

But, she said, Foreman isn't charged with his death because the toxicology came back and said that he died from methamphetamine and fentanyl exposure.

And, when police came to talk to her after a confidential informant implicated her in the overdose, Foreman cooperated, turning over the drugs she had, none of which tested positive for fentanyl, Osborn said.

"And that confirms that she did not provide the substance that killed Mr. Kerksten," she said.

Osborn said it was about the drugs she turned over to police and her admitted intention to "dispose of substances" by giving them to another woman.

When Foreman found Kerksten unconscious, she tried to revive him and called 911.

In a pre-sentence interview, Foreman apologized to the court for yet another possession case. The prosecutor took issue with the characterization.

"The state would argue this is not simply a possession case. This is a case that arose from the death of a man that Miss Foreman claimed to be a friend to," Deputy Lancaster Amber Schlote said.

And it arose out of actions Foreman continued to take after she'd had several opportunities to quit, through drug court and treatment, she said, calling Foreman a "risk to the community."

In the end, Lancaster County District Judge Darla Ideus told Foreman these were obviously serious charges, with serious consequences as a result of her actions.

"This case demonstrates how dangerous it is to use drugs and exchange drugs or give drugs to other people," she said.

But Ideus said she was encouraged by Foreman's recent successes, and she gave her five years of probation.

Narcan, a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, can be purchased and deployed by anyone and is available for free at numerous area pharmacies, a list of which is published at stopodne.com .

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