ICYMI: HBO Producer Jailed For Moving Dead Woman's Body

CHELSEA, NY — An HBO producer who admitted moving a dead woman's body after she overdosed on cocaine was sentenced to serve a year and a day in prison, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Marc Henry Johnson pleaded guilty to moving Dr. Kiersten Cerveny's body in 2015. He was sentenced on Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

"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," Joon Kim, the acting U.S. attorney for Manhattan, said in a statement.

"For his callous and illegal choice, Johnson will now join that drug dealer in federal prison."

Cerveny, a Long Island dermatologist, died in October 2015 after a night of partying in Manhattan with Johnson and others. Johnson, a producer for the HBO show "The Deuce," met Cerveny at a Manhattan bar on Oct. 3 before the two joined Johnson's regular cocaine dealer James Holder at his Chelsea apartment, according to prosecutors.

Hours after they arrived at the apartment, Johnson helped Holder drag Cerveny's unconscious body from the third floor apartment to the building's first-floor vestibule. Authorities said Holder left the building and that Johnson called 911, but refused to give his name, identify Cerveny, or tell the operator why she needed assistance.

Paramedics took Cerveny to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The city's medical examiner said she died from acute cocaine and alcohol intoxication. The death was ruled an accident.

Johnson pleaded guilty to one count of acting as an accessory after the fact to the offense of maintaining a drug-involved premises in March. His co-defendant Holder already pleaded guilty to maintaining a drug-involved premises and was sentenced to serve five years in prison in May.

Johnson, 53, was also ordered to pay a $20,000 fine.

Lead image credit: Mark Von Holden / Stringer / Getty Images Entertainment