Two years following the death of a 27-year-old Fairview Township woman who battled addiction and served as an advocate for others fighting a similar battle, the Pennsylvania State Police in April 2023 charged an Erie man with supplying the fentanyl that killed her.
In late May, the accused supplier, 43-year-old Jeffery L. Thomas, stood in an Erie County courtroom and admitted to providing the fatal dose to Taylor Miller as he pleaded guilty to a first-degree felony count of drug delivery resulting in death. Prosecutors and Thomas' lawyer are recommending he receive a four-to-eight-year prison term when he is sentenced on July 16.
The case against Thomas is one of the more recent cases in which law enforcement in Erie County charged someone with drug delivery resulting in death, a charge filed against those accused of supplying drugs that causes a person's fatal overdose.
Thomas' guilty plea also marked the most recent conviction on that charge for the Erie County District Attorney's Office.
Statewide, the number of offenses where a person was charged with drug delivery resulting in death increased by 16% between 2022 and 2023, the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts reported in an information graphic released on Thursday.
There were 24 convictions statewide last year in criminal cases involving a charge of drug delivery resulting in death or a related charge, including criminal conspiracy, criminal solicitation and criminal attempt of the charge, according to AOPC data. There were 84 convictions statewide in 2021 and 58 in 2022, according to the data.
Authorities in Erie County have charged drug delivery resulting in death in 13 criminal cases between 2019 and 2023, according to a data sheet that accompanied the AOPC's information graphic. It was charged in one case each in 2019 and 2020, in two cases in 2021, and in nine cases last year. The charge was not in any county cases in 2022, according to the AOPC data.
There were six convictions in Erie County between 2019 and 2023, with half of those convictions occurring last year, according to AOPC data.
Rising overdoses and a more aggressive stance
What had been a rare charge filed in local cases became more prevalent as drug-related deaths in Erie County exploded in recent years.
Following a record-124 fatal overdoses in the county in 2017, drug deaths dropped to 76 in 2019 but have increased each year since then to 122 in 2022 and 2023, according to data released by the Erie County Coroner's Office.
Also increasing, according to Coroner's Office data, is the prevalence of fentanyl in toxicology testing done on fatal overdose victims. Fentanyl was present in 62% of Erie County's overdose deaths in 2018 and rose to 84% in 2022, according to Coroner's Office data.
Fentanyl was present in 83% of the fatal overdoses in 2023, Coroner Lyell Cook reported.
Erie County District Attorney Elizabeth Hirz said her office and area law enforcement have become more aggressive in investigating drug cases and overdoses and overdose deaths, and her office is working closely with police agencies in those investigations. She noted that her office has an assistant district attorney dedicated to working the cases.
Area law enforcement is doing an exceptional job of working the cases and tracking down information, Hirz said, and she's very pleased with the work they are doing.
Such investigations can be difficult to work and take time, Hirz said. In a number of cases in Erie County in which a person was ultimately charged with delivering drugs that caused a person's death, investigators have relied on data they've had to extract from cell phones or social media, a process that can take time, according to authorities.
In the case against Jefferey Thomas in the death of Taylor Miller, state police investigators developed information over more than a year before investigators interviewed Thomas as part the investigation, according to information in Thomas' criminal complaint.
"I appreciate law enforcement's effort in these investigations," Hirz said. "Our office is committed to working closely with them and pursuing these prosecutions against the individuals who deliver these deadly drugs into our community."
Most of the recent cases in Erie County where a person was charged with drug delivery resulting in death have been resolved through pleas or trials, Hirz said.
Unresolved and new cases
Two cases from 2023 remain unresolved.
Erie resident Joshua S. Davies, 53, is awaiting trial on charges including two counts of drug delivery resulting in death that Erie police filed against him in April 2023. Police accuse Davies of supplying fentanyl that caused the deaths of two people who were found outside Davies' apartment in the 2900 block of Poplar Street in October 2022.
Springfield Township resident Jacob L. Bells, 32, is awaiting trial on drug delivery resulting in death and other charges that the Pennsylvania State Police filed against him in March 2023. Police accuse Bells of supplying drugs that caused the death of a McKean Township man in August 2022.
Local law enforcement have charged two people with drug delivery resulting in death so far in 2024.
Edinboro police in late March charged 51-year-old borough resident Melinda K. Wolcott after accusing her of supplying methamphetamine to a 45-year-old neighbor who died of a drug overdose in February. Wolcott waived her charges to court at her preliminary hearing in late April and is awaiting her formal arraignment, according to court records.
Millcreek Township police in May charged Erie resident Stewart J. Correll, 25, after accusing him of supplying fentanyl that caused a Millcreek man's death in May 2023. Correll is awaiting his preliminary hearing, which is scheduled in July, according to court records.
Contact Tim Hahn atthahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on X@ETNhahn
