One of the first women to appear on 16 and Pregnant, Whitney Purvis, has found herself in a mess of legal trouble just weeks after burying her oldest son. On July 7, Georgia Police arrested Whitney Purvis on involuntary manslaughter charges. While details of the incident were scarce yesterday, what happened is slowly coming into focus. Purvis and her alleged victim were once friends; in fact, she even commented on his obituary months before her arrest.

Whitney Purvis was arrested for involuntary manslaughter and drug charges

Whitney Purvis is in a world of legal trouble. Purvis, who allowed MTV to film the birth of her first child back in 2008, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter after she allegedly distributed a fatal cocktail of drugs to a 37-year-old Georgia man. According to early reports, Purvis, who is also facing drug charges, was responsible for handing over Tranq to a man who later suffered a fatal overdose. It doesn’t appear that Purvis was on the scene when the overdose occurred.

Tranq is the street name for Xylazine. Xylazine is an animal sedative that has been used as a street drug in recent years. The drugs that Purvis is accused of distributing also contained Fentanyl. According to the CDC, Fentanyl is a leading cause of opioid overdoses and deaths in the United States.

Whitney Purvis was arrested just this week for involuntary manslaughter, but the incident that led to the victim’s death occurred months ago. TMZ revealed that a man named John Mark Harris died of a drug overdose after using drugs that Purvis provided him. Harris’ mother told the outlet that she’s thankful someone like Purvis is off the streets, but didn’t detail her late son’s connection to the former reality TV star.

From what we can gather, Purvis and Harris, a 37-year-old chef, were friendly, but Purvis was not friendly enough with her victim’s family to be invited to the memorial service. Purvis wrote, weeks after Harris’s death, that she was sorry she hadn’t learned of his passing sooner. She went on to thank him and say she’d miss him. Purvis posted her comment on Harris’s obituary on March 3. Harris died on February 17. A memorial for the Georgia native was held on March 1.

Purvis was in the news last month when her eldest son, Weston Gosa Jr., 16, died suddenly. Gosa Jr. had battled a genetic condition since birth and had diabetes and Addison’s disease. Gosa Jr., who was living with his father and stepmother, died from natural causes.