Whitney Purvis has pleaded guilty in the death of a man who overdosed. The former "16 and Pregnant" star could now be locked up for up to 44 years.

Purvis entered her plea last week. She took what is called an Alford plea.

What that plea means

That kind of plea lets a defendant accept a guilty finding while still saying they did not commit the crime.

She pleaded to three charges in all. Among them is involuntary manslaughter. Another accuses her of knowingly handing the victim a drug known on the street as Tranq.

Tranq mixes fentanyl with xylazine, an animal sedative.

The case

Purvis was arrested last year. Police said the drug she gave John Mark Harris led to the toxic overdose that killed him.

Local news reports put her maximum possible sentence at 44 years.

Past trouble

This is not her first run-in with the law. She has been picked up before on smaller charges. One arrest was for stealing a pregnancy test. Another was over unpaid child support.

Her son, Weston Gosa Jr., had died only about a month before police charged her with manslaughter.