RINGGOLD, Ga. -- The Catoosa County Sheriff’s Department has charged a 15-year-old with manslaughter in connection with the drug death of a Ringgold High student.

The teen, whose names is being withheld, was arrested Monday night and has been charged with voluntary manslaughter.

According to Catoosa Sheriff Phil Summers:

The 15-year-old will be prosecuted as a juvenile and at this time there is no plan to pursue criminal charges as an adult.

The juvenile arrested is currently incarcerated at a state youth development center awaiting his court appearance in Catoosa County Juvenile Court.

Timothy Lebron Smith, of 571 Spring Meadows Drive, Ringgold, was discovered Saturday, March 1, at 43 Gwen Drive, Ringgold, where he spent the night with a friend.

Smith’s death was discovered by an adult on Saturday morning when he failed to report for work.

This case was investigated thoroughly by investigators with the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office and Ringgold Police Department, which lead to the arrest Monday evening in this case.

The 15-year-old juvenile has been charged with voluntary manslaughter, three counts of distribution of prescription drugs, and one count of possession of prescription drugs.

During the Sheriff’s Department investigation, the following was determined which led to the arrest of the 15-year-old suspect.

The investigation revealed that the suspect took prescription medication from a family member from his home address. The suspect later gave the 80-milligram Oxycodone pills to three friends and retained several pills for his own consumption.

All four individuals apparently consumed the Oxycodone on Friday, which resulted in the death of Timothy Smith, a second juvenile hospitalized, and the other two juveniles suffered from vomiting and extreme sickness.

All four juveniles were friends.

“There has been much discussion about Ringgold High School and the possibility of the recent deaths of two Ringgold High School students,” Summer said in a news release. “It is fair to say the first death investigation of February 13 revealed there was no connection with the death and the school in which he attended.

“In the second death investigation of March 1, the only connection with Ringgold High School was determined that the juvenile suspect provided the Oxycodone to his friends at the school. This was not a case of a drug dealer selling drugs to unsuspecting students at school.

Catoosa County school system and the Sheriff’s Department authorities met Monday and agreed on a plan of action in dealing with the tragic deaths of the two young men. Beginning Tuesday, the school system and the Sheriff’s Department will begin an educational process focusing in two areas.

“First, we will today (Tuesday) begin an educational process to help our high school students understand the deadly consequences of prescription drug usage,” Summers said in the release.

“Second, we will focus on providing literature to the parents of the high school students in Catoosa County to educate them of the danger and the importance of regulating prescription drugs in the home,” he said. “In the Sheriff’s Office’s recent investigation, we have found that many of the prescription drugs found in possession of our youth came from the home medicine cabinet.”

“… this case is a tragedy,” Summers said. “We hope other youth and parents learn from this unfortunate experience.”