Norfolk sailor Donald McManus gets light sentence for heroin deal and overdose on USS George H. W. Bush

Donald McManus

NORFOLK, Va. – Donald G. McManus, 22, of Wallingford, Connecticut, was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for distribution of heroin aboard the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier that led to the overdose of an active duty sailor. McManus was also sentenced to three years of supervised release.

McManus pleaded guilty on Oct. 14, 2015.  According to court documents, Donald McManus was an active duty sailor in the United States Navy assigned to the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier in February 2015. 

While in a restricted status onboard the USS Bush, Donald McManus had his wife smuggle heroin and syringes aboard the aircraft carrier.  The McManus couple sold heroin to another sailor who was later found unresponsive on the floor in the ship’s berthing area.  The USS Bush’s medical personnel immediately responded and worked with emergency medical technicians in an attempt to save the sailor’s life.  The overdose victim was without a detectable pulse until medical personnel were able to resuscitate the sailor.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Mark R. Herring, Attorney General of Virginia; and Timothy R. Quick, Special Agent in Charge of NCIS’s Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson.

This case was investigated by NCIS’s Norfolk Field Office and was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alyssa Nichol and John F. Butler, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew C. Bosse.