Johnson sentenced to one year for cover-up role in Cerveny’s death

Amelia Camurati
Kiersten Cerveny died of a cocaine overdose in October 2015. (Photo courtesy Facebook)

Marc Henry Johnson, an HBO producer, was sentenced Tuesday in Manhattan federal court to one year and one day in prison after admitting that he moved a Manhasset woman, Kiersten Cerveny, before she died of a cocaine overdose in 2015.

“Faced with a choice between helping his long-time drug dealer avoid arrest or helping a woman survive a cocaine overdose, Marc Henry Johnson chose to help the drug dealer,” acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said in a statement. “For his callous and illegal choice, Johnson will now join that drug dealer in federal prison.”

In addition to the prison term, Johnson, 53, was sentenced to two years of supervised release and must pay a fine of $20,000.

Previously, Johnson was seeking no jail time due to the guilt he suffered because of Cerveny’s death. In a letter filed Aug. 2 in Manhattan federal court, lawyers for Johnson claim their client did more than was publicly known for Cerveny as she died from a cocaine overdose in October 2015, including cradling Cerveny’s head.

Cerveny, 38, a dermatologist who practiced in Williston Park, had been partying with Johnson and James Holder in Manhattan on the night of Oct. 3, 2015, before she overdosed.

Cerveny became unresponsive and the pair dragged her into the apartment building’s vestibule before Johnson called 911, prosecutors said. Medical examiners found her death was caused in part by a cocaine overdose.

During his trial, Johnson admitted in court that he tried to cover up the fact that James “Pepsi” Holder, whom he and Cerveny were with the night she died, was selling cocaine out of that apartment.

Johnson also admitted that he moved Cerveny out of the Manhattan apartment into the building’s vestibule where she was found.

Holder, who pled guilty on Dec. 12 to maintaining a drug-involved premises, was sentenced on May 11 to five years in prison.

Cerveny is survived by a husband and three children, who still live in Manhasset.

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