NEWPORT — A former Claremont woman whose arrest on drug charges highlighted connections among multiple victims of fatal overdoses in Newport pleaded guilty to drug charges and is now behind bars.

Lisa Giannotti, formerly of South Street in Claremont and most recently residing in Goshen, N.H., pleaded guilty to prohibited acts involving controlled drugs in Sullivan County Superior Court in Newport on Oct. 30, according to court records.

Giannotti had been charged in January with possessing and selling narcotics.

Under a negotiated capped plea deal, Giannotti, 36, was sentenced to two to five years, less 31 days for time already served in New Hampshire State Prison. She was also found guilty of violating her probation on a prior drug conviction, court records show.  

Giannotti’s arrest earlier this year came as a result of an investigation into the apparent overdose death in January of Maryanne Baldauff, 33, of Newport. Baldauff, in whose apartment a 67-year-old female roommate was found dead from a suspected drug overdose in 2022, herself recently had been released from incarceration after convictions for drug distribution.

A police investigation uncovered text messages that Baldauff had sent to Giannotti to inquire about the purchase of drugs on the day before she died, according to the police affidavit in support of the charge. 

Giannotti subsequently admitted to police that she and Baldauff had arranged for a drug transaction but said that neither Baldauff nor anyone else ever showed up to complete the deal, the affidavit said.