HBO producer, ex-con arrested in doctor's cocaine overdose

NEW YORK - JULY 08: Producer Marc Henry Johnson poses on the red carpet at the premiere of "Black In America 2" hosted by CNN Correspondent Soledad O'brien at Schomburg Museum on July 8, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Mark Von Holden/Getty Images for Girl Behind the Camera) (Getty)

An HBO producer and an ex-con were busted on drug charges for allegedly plying with cocaine a married Long Island doctor who died of an overdose while partying with the TV exec, authorities said.

Dr. Kiersten Rickenbach Cerveny, 38, was found dying in a Chelsea doorway – with her panties in her purse – early on Oct. 4 after the wild drug binge with the married producer, Marc Henry Johnson, 51.

She and Johnson, whom she had met in 2009, met up during Cerveny’s girls’ night out on the Lower East Side before they went to his drug dealer’s apartment on West 16th Street, sources have said.

Johnson and the dealer, ex-con James Holder, were arrested late Tuesday by Drug Enforcement Administration agents and the NYPD.

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They were expected to be arraigned in Manhattan federal court Wednesday on charges of narcotics distribution, narcotics conspiracy and accessory after the fact.

According to the complaint, Johnson texted someone at a bar on Oct. 3 and referred to Holder as “Pepsi.”

“I am a little too tipsy to leave right now. I may go to Pepsi for a pickup,” he texted, according to the complaint. “Where?” the friend texted back.

“Me friend Pepsi. Pepsi is in Chelsea,” Johnson replied. A half-hour later he added: “if you’re still there, I ready to roll.”

Johnson went to the bar later that night to meet with Cerveny and her friends, the complaint said.

She had been using cocaine before Johnson arrived, according to the complaint.

Johnson said “he had a significant amount of cocaine, which he offered to share.”

He and Cerveny then left in a cab and arrived at Holder’s Chelsea building at 4:25 a.m., based on video surveillance.

Hours later, Johnson and Holder dragged her unconscious body along a hallway to the first-floor vestibule at 223 W. 16th St., the feds said.

“Holder then left the Chelsea building, carrying an object as he walked away,” the complaint said.

After Holder bolted, Johnson called 911 at 8:30 a.m. and asked for an ambulance — but declined to provide his name or say why Cerveny needed medical help, the complaint said.

Johnson “intentionally and knowingly did receive, relieve, comfort, and assist the offender in order to hinder and prevent his apprehension, trial, and punishment,” according to the federal complaint.

Law enforcement agents conducted witness interviews with more than 10 people who pinned cocaine distribution on Holder from the Chelsea apartment, according to the complaint.

An autopsy found that Cerveny, a dermatologist from Manhasset, died of an accidental “acute cocaine and alcohol intoxication.” The blond mother of three was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Cerveny, a former pageant queen from New Jersey, married fellow skin doc Andrew Cerveny about 10 months after she reconnected with Johnson, who she had known for a few years.

She and her husband had been living in a rented $1.2 million home for about a year.

After Cerveny’s death, Johnson took time off from his job as a producer of “The Deuce,” an HBO pilot about the porn industry starring James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

The producer was previously nominated for an Emmy for his work on Michael Moore’s “The Awful Truth.”

Police sources have said Johnson had been having marital problems. His wife, Yale-educated lawyer Marlisa Vinciguerra, accused him of kicking her inside their Laight Street apartment April 5, 2015, sources said.

Authorities found numerous plastic zipper bags used to package narcotics in the 60-year-old Holder’s apartment, sources have said.

Holder moved out of the Chelsea apartment after Oct. 4 but continued to sell cocaine until January, authorities said Wednesday.

He had allegedly distributed more than 5 kilos of the drug between 2003 and Oct. 4, 2015, according to authorities.

This article originally appeared in the New York Post's Page Six.