Man pleads guilty in overdose death of friend

WEST JORDAN — Jason Andrew Calacino pleaded guilty Monday to abuse/desecration of a dead human body, a third-degree felony, in connection with his involvement in hiding the body of a friend who overdosed on drugs.

Third District Judge Royal Hansen dismissed another third-degree felony charge of obstruction of justice on Monday as part of a plea bargain. A third charge of negligent homicide, a class A misdemeanor, had been dismissed earlier.

Calacino, 20, was charged in connection with the drug overdose death of Amelia Sorich, 18, who died June 25, 2005. Calacino and his then-girlfriend, Macall Aubrey Petersen, 19, were with Sorich that night, and Petersen admitted she injected Sorich with a dose of heroin and cocaine that proved too strong.

Calacino testified he repeatedly pleaded with Petersen to call 911 when it became clear something was wrong with Sorich, but his girlfriend didn't want the police or paramedics involved because of her previous run-ins with the law.

The following morning Calacino tried CPR on Sorich, but could not revive her. He and Petersen panicked and hid Sorich's body in the foothills near Bountiful.

The crimes occurred over a weekend and Calacino turned himself in to police the following Monday and confessed to what happened.

The judge in May sentenced Petersen to the maximum term in prison for her role in the incident.

A pre-sentence report will be prepared for Calacino before he is sentenced in October.

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