Shooting Zoloft & Alcohol 07/07/2011 Pennsylvania Tenant Shoots Loaded Gun Out of Apartment Window
Shooting Zoloft & Alcohol 2011-07-07 Pennsylvania Tenant Shoots Loaded Gun Out of Apartment Window
Summary:

Paragraph six reads:  "Wojcik was paroled to the custody of a representative of the Penn Foundation, a Philadelphia-based facility that offers services to those dealing with mental health and drug and alcohol problems. In the no contest plea agreement that Wojcik filled out, he said he had been treated for depression for the past four years, and that he was taking Zoloft at the time of his arrest."

SSRI Stories Note:  The Physicians Desk Reference states that antidepressants can cause a craving for alcohol and can cause alcohol abuse. Also, the liver cannot metabolize the antidepressant and the alcohol simultaneously, thus leading to higher levels of both alcohol and the antidepressant in the human body

SSRI Stories Additional Note:  Refer to Journal Article Which States that 45% of Alcoholics Increased Their Drinking on Zoloft:  http://www.ssristories.drugawareness.org/show.php?item=1837



http://delcotimes.com/articles/2011/07/07/news/doc4e16029a7fd7d744867404.txt



Drunken shooter in Chesco incident to get treatment

Published: Thursday, July 07, 2011


By MICHAEL P. RELLAHAN
Special to the Times

WEST CHESTER – The Westtown man who caused a scare last month by drunkenly firing a handgun through windows of his apartment was paroled Thursday into a treatment program for those with mental health and substance abuse issues.

Augustine Maximillian Wojcik, 37, pleaded no contest to charges of recklessly endangering another person, disorderly conduct, and criminal mischief stemming from the incident June 4 at the Heather Glen Apartments on West Chester Pike, in which authorities said he fired at least nine rounds from his .40 caliber semi-automatic, some of which went outside the apartment.

As part of a plea agreement negotiated by his attorney, Assistant Public Defender Sheryl Willson, and the prosecutor in the case, Assistant District Attorney Chris deBarrena-Sarobe, Wojcik was sentenced to 33 days to 23 months in jail – the amount of time he had been held at Chester County Prison on $80,000 bail since his arrest the night of the incident.

That jail term would be followed by two years of probation, during which time he would be required to follow any treatment programs that are recommended by the Chester County Adult Probation Office, according to terms of the plea that was accepted by Senior Judge Thomas Gavin.

He was also ordered to forfeit the .40 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun that police found at the scene to the Westtown-East Goshen police department, which handled the case.

Wojcik was paroled to the custody of a representative of the Penn Foundation, a Philadelphia-based facility that offers services to those dealing with mental health and drug and alcohol problems. In the no contest plea agreement that Wojcik filled out, he said he had been treated for depression for the past four years, and that he was taking Zoloft at the time of his arrest.

The shooting incident occurred round 6:30 p.m. June 4. A resident of the apartment complex, walking his dog, called police and said he had heard the sound of shots being fired from the MA building at Heather Glen. An avid hunter, he told police that the shots sounded like reports from a semi-automatic handgun and not a BB-gun.

Officers from the West Chester Regional Emergency Response Team responded to the scene and surrounded the area. One officer told Detective Robert Balchunis, the lead investigator, that he had spotted three holes in the back window of a apartment in the MA building and was attempting to make contact with the resident there. Because no one could be reached, the other buildings in the area were evacuated for the residents’ safety, an affidavit stated. Ultimately, no one was hurt.

When officers with the emergency response team were able to get in the building, Wojcik eventually opened the door to his apartment and was taken into custody. He was naked, and smelled of alcohol.

When Balchunis interviewed him, however, Wojcik was unable to say where the gun was, although the detective saw an empty gun case and live ammunition in the living room, and spent shell casing on the floor of a hallway leading to a window that had been shot out. He was able tell Balchunis only that he had been drinking and shooting his gun.

A graduate of Conestoga High School and bachelor, Wojcik worked as a food service director at the Melmark School in Berwyn before his arrest.