Levi Brown of Pleasantville also faces charges of distributing heroin, causing a drug-induced death and resisting arrest in the indictment handed up by an Ocean County grand jury.
He could face nearly 37 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
Prosecutors say Eugene Murtagh Jr., a 39-year-old Lacey resident, bought heroin from the 23-year-old Brown in Pleasantville on Sept. 25, 2009. Brown soon ingested the drug and died later that day, shortly after he was rushed to a hospital.
Brown remains in the Ocean County Jail, where he's being held on $500,000 cash bail. Officials did not know Sunday whether Brown had retained an attorney.
