A man from Tullytown was given a prison sentence on Monday, April 29, 2024, for providing drugs that caused a woman's fatal overdose in Falls Township in November 2021.
Steven Frederick Yard Jr., 32, admitted guilt in January to charges including involuntary manslaughter, possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, recklessly endangering another person, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
On Monday, Judge Gary B. Gilman sentenced Yard to between 2 ½ years and 6 years in state prison, followed by two years of probation.
The investigation started on Nov. 16, 2021 when Falls Township police responded to an overdose call at 100 Yardley Ave. There, police found Mary Coyle, 39, dead in bed and Steven Yard overdosing on the floor in the same room.
The investigation uncovered that Yard went to the Kensington area of Philadelphia and bought 12 bags of heroin for himself and Coyle. Yard and Coyle both used heroin at the Yardley Ave. residence.
Yard woke up to find Coyle dead in bed, so he positioned her on her back and began performing CPR. Yard also consumed another bag of heroin and disposed of several bags under a couch in the room when police arrived.
During the investigation, a dollar bill used for snorting drugs and three empty blue wax paper bags, commonly used to package heroin, were confiscated by the police. Under a couch, police found six more wax paper bags, containing suspected heroin/fentanyl. The deputy coroner found three more wax bags with suspected heroin/fentanyl in Coyle's robe.
An autopsy later determined that Coyle died from acute fentanyl poisoning, and lab results showed that the contents of the wax paper bags tested positive for fentanyl. The dollar bill also tested positive for the presence of cocaine.
Falls Township Police Department, under the leadership of Detective Stephen Reeves, investigated this case, which was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Chad R. Kovack.
