Woman pleads guilty in overdose death

EAST ST. LOUIS -- Sentencing will be early next year for a southwestern Illinois woman who admits selling drugs to a man who later overdosed on them.

Twenty-five-year-old Amanda Overstreet of Bethalto pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in East St. Louis to a charge of distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death.

Overstreet admits selling methadone to 24-year-old Jared Hawkins in November 2004 in Alton. Hawkins later overdosed to death on the drugs.

Though it is best known as a prescription drug that curbs heroin addiction, methadone increasingly has been prescribed as a pain medication.

Overstreet's sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 26.