ANCHORAGE – All Debbie Hurd has left of her son, Matt Scott, are pictures and his ashes. Scott died in 2012 after overdosing on the drug “Molly” given to him by Robin Gattis.
“I know he was reckless, I admitted that,” Hurd said. “But his legacy shouldn’t be as a drug addict. He was exposed to the drug and he liked the way it made him feel.”
A judge sentenced Gattis to 16 years in prison Thursday afternoon on drug conspiracy charges. Alaska is now the first state to federally prosecute someone for distributing a fatal dose of “Molly.”
Court documents show Gattis had been dealing large quantities of Methylone, the party drug known as “Molly.”
Scott had been at a party and his knees started to turn blue after he took multiple hits of the drug. Gattis texted a friend that it was “a sign of a mild overdose.”
He left Scott alone to sleep. When Gattis checked on him the next day, Scott was dead.
“When you knew he was overdosing and you were texting people and didn’t do anything. You could have given him a chance,” Hurd said. “Even with his phone, called 911. If you were afraid of getting caught, call with his phone then leave and give him a chance. That’s what I can’t wrap myself around. You were so afraid of getting caught you just let him die.”
What Gattis did after Scott’s death shows he had no remorse, according to the prosecution.
“Hoping I don’t catch a murder charge if I’m implicated since I was there,” he said in a Facebook message to a friend.
“My best friend took the M1 and died,” he said in an email to his drug dealer in China. “I think I’m going to throw away the rest and I don’t think I’ll be ordering from you again, thank you for your service though and if there’s any way I can get my money refunded it would help a lot.”
A month later he asked his dealer for another supply.
State Rep. Lynn Gattis, Robin’s mother, admitted her son made mistakes, but told the courtroom:
“We have a bigger problem,” she said. “We as mothers can do a lot more. Everyone’s son is important and useful. Robin has something to offer.”
Robin Gattis spoke in court telling the judge he was terrified of spending 20 years in jail.
“I hope for myself, my family and my future I’m not stuck in jail forever,” he said.
“I’m so sorry for all the pain this has caused you,” he told Scott’s parents. ” I wish there was something I could do or say to bring Matt back.”