Two men, both from Butler, have been charged in connection with the overdose death of an Emlenton woman last March.
A third man, a Petrolia resident, had been charged last year for his role in the incident, and he has since been sentenced to a state prison term.
Emlenton police said in a criminal complaint they were on routine patrol last March 29 when they found a man they were looking for in connection with another incident. A woman who was with the man said she needed to check on another woman, later identified as Samantha Vera, who was on the floor in a nearby apartment and later determined to be dead, the complaint said.
Harrison Daniels, 32, and Shane Beachem, 46, were the two men who were charged Monday. William Raub, 35, was charged last July.
Charges haven’t been filed against the other two people who police say were involved in the incident.
The complaint says police obtained a search warrant for the apartment where Vera’s body was found, and police found a clear plastic baggie with drugs and drug-related items.
Through the course of the investigation, police determined Raub had delivered a mixture of fentanyl, tramadol, and fluorofentanyl to Vera, the complaint said.
Police obtained Vera’s cellphone and were able to extract data from the phone, the complaint said. Police also found a conversation between Raub and Vera via Facebook messenger that showed Raub provided drugs to Vera on three occasions, the last of which was on March 29, the day of her death, according to the complaint.
Police also learned that while Raub was arranging to deliver drugs to Vera he was also messaging another woman and arranging to pick up the drugs from her to deliver to Vera, the complaint said.
After dropping Daniels off, the people in the vehicle turned around and picked Daniels up again and he gave drugs to Raub and the other man, the complaint said.
When police interviewed Daniels, he confirmed everything the woman had said about the trip to Chicora to obtain drugs, the complaint said.
The complaint also notes that Franklin state police had served a search warrant on Beachem’s house in April 2021 and found controlled substances that included 34 baggies with the same markings as the ones found in Vera’s apartment containing fentanyl, tramadol, and fluorofentanyl.
Police said Daniels called Beachem about 160 times from March 1, 2021, to April 9, 2021, and 10 of those calls were made the day Vera died, according to the complaint.
Daniels and Beachem were both charged with felony counts of drug delivery resulting in death, manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver, corrupt organization- employee, conspiracy — corrupt organization, conspiracy- manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver and criminal use of a communication facility, as well as misdemeanor counts of involuntary manslaughter and possession of controlled substances.
They were arraigned Monday and placed in the Venango County jail after being unable to post bail, and their preliminary hearings are scheduled for March 9 in Central Court.
Raub pleaded guilty to felony counts of drug delivery resulting in death and criminal use of a communication facility.
He was sentenced in December to a minimum of 89 months and a maximum of 222 months on the two charges and is currently serving time at the SCI Smithfield prison.
