A Kingston woman who contributed to the death of a 14-year-old girl by providing her with drugs and alcohol will spend two and a third to seven years in state prison. In September, Kirsten Delsanto, 29 pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the second degree in connection with the August 2022 death of Miller Middle School student Hailey Hasbrouck.

Hasbrouck was the daughter of Colin Schlegel, who lived with Delsanto in an apartment at 781 Neighborhood Road in the Town of Ulster. On Aug. 2, 2022, Hasbrouck and a half-sister, also 14, were staying with Schlegel for the weekend. Around 10 a.m. that day, police received a call for an unresponsive female at the address. Paramedics responding to the scene were advised that Hasbrouck may have been exposed to fentanyl. Efforts to revive the girl with the overdose-reversing drug Narcan were unsuccessful and she was declared dead at the scene. An autopsy showed Hasbrouck died of acute intoxication from the combined effects of cocaine, fentanyl, the powerful veterinary sedative Xylazine and alcohol.

Hasbrouck’s death spurred a year-long investigation spearheaded by Ulster Police Department Detective Sgt. Cheryl Benjamin. In addition to drug paraphernalia found in the Neighborhood Road apartment, detectives used video evidence to track the couple’s movements as they drove around Kingston with the girls the day before Hasbrouck’s death. The video showed them stopping to pick up a man police described as a drug dealer who sold them crack cocaine. Other videos showed Schlegel and Delsanto stopping at a liquor store to buy a bottle of flavored rum which they then gave to the girls. Police believe that all of the substances found in Hasbrouck’s system were provided by Schlegel and Delsanto.

By September 2023, investigators had enough evidence to make an arrest. At a Sept. 26, 2023, arraignment in Ulster County Court Schlegel and Delsanto were charged with second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and second-degree assault, as well as multiple drug felonies and two misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

Delsanto, who faced a maximum sentence of five to 15 years in state prison, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter charge in exchange for the lighter sentence. Colin Schlegel pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and a felony drug charge back in May as part of a plea agreement, the terms of which have not been disclosed. He is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 7.

“Kristin Delsanto put this child directly in harm’s way by making available and providing her with a variety of narcotics and alcohol, which ultimately led to her death,” said Ulster County Senior Assistant District Attorney Luba Reznikova in a statement announcing the sentencing. “I commend the work of Detective Sgt. Cheryl Benjamin and all our law enforcement partners who work tirelessly every single day to secure justice for the most vulnerable among us — our children.”