Former WSLS (Channel 10) meteorologist Marc Lamarre overdosed on drugs the night of Feb. 2, but federal prosecutors now say they have no evidence it was heroin.

Because two urine samples taken that night did not turn up heroin in Lamarre's system, Chad Rhudolph Honaker, 33, and Gilbert Dennis Hadden, 21, escaped charges that their heroin dealing caused serious bodily injury.

Instead, the two men pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy and distribution of heroin, each of which carries up to 20 years in prison.

At the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Wolthuis explained how Lamarre and current WSLS weatherman Jamey Singleton progressed from using the painkiller Nubain to using 25 bags of heroin every other day.

Neither man has been charged in the case.

Lamarre and Singleton started injecting Nubain as bodybuilders in summer 2005, Wolthuis said, but after Singleton ran out of Nubain one day, a friend introduced him to Honaker, who introduced him to heroin.

The prosecutor said Singleton enjoyed heroin so much that he turned his friend Lamarre onto it.

By October, the friends were heavily into the drug, and Singleton was using up to 17 bags a day himself, Wolthuis told the court.

For a time, Hadden supplied to Honaker, who sold to the weathermen, the prosecutor said. Honaker sometimes kept some of the drugs for himself.

At some point, a third dealer identified as "Spoons" began to deal directly to Singleton and Lamarre, according to Wolthuis. He later declined to comment on whether Spoons will face charges.

In mid-December, Singleton and Lamarre checked into Mount Regis Center in Salem for drug treatment, the prosecutor said. They remained clean until Jan. 30, when Lamarre received "disappointing personal news" and obtained a prescription for the anti-depressant Xanax.

Over the next several days, Lamarre took Xanax "as though they were M&Ms," the attorney said. One evening, he had to be removed from the newscast because he was so high, Wolthuis added.

By Feb. 2, Lamarre had already revealed to Singleton over lunch that he wanted to find some heroin, officials said.

When Lamarre showed up at Honaker's party at a South Roanoke duplex that night, a friend gave him a few prescription painkillers called Lortab, Wolthuis said. A little later, Honaker gave Lamarre two bags of heroin.

Officials say Lamarre went to the bathroom twice and complained of stomach problems. The second time he left the bathroom, Wolthuis said, Lamarre collapsed and struck his head on a computer desk.

When rescue crews arrived, they gave Lamarre two shots of Narcam, an antidote to an opiate overdose, Wolthuis said. The Narcam restored Lamarre's breathing but not his consciousness.

The next day, Honaker admitted his role in the case to police and agreed to trap Hadden by calling him and arranging more heroin transactions, Wolthuis said.

But authorities remained puzzled by several things.

First, Lamarre's urine screens were negative for heroin. Hadden's attorney, David Damico, said officials wondered if the Narcam had skewed the test results.

In addition, if someone has overdosed on opiates, Narcam usually restores his consciousness, Wolthuis said. There was also no witness to Lamarre's use of heroin.

Finally, Lamarre complained that he had lost his memory of a full day before the overdose, something that is more indicative of Xanax abuse than a heroin overdose, Wolthuis said.

Now several months after his overdose, Lamarre still suffers from damage to the right side of his brain, which makes it difficult to learn, Wolthuis said.

When prosecutors added everything up, they realized they could not prove that Lamarre overdosed on heroin instead of a mixture of Xanax and Lortab.

Hadden and Honaker will be held in the Roanoke City Jail until their sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled.

Lamarre could not be reached for comment Monday. Singleton has publicly admitted that he underwent treatment for heroin addiction.

On Monday, he said in a statement that he has been clean since December.

"I, with the help of my friends, family and co-workers, am confident that I will continue to meet the expectations of the community, and my employer, WSLS-TV," Singleton said.