Charges have been filed against three people accused in the 2015 drug delivery death of a 25-year-old Bradford man.
Rachel Lynn Reid, 28, of 21 Pearl St., Bradford, was arraigned Monday afternoon before District Judge Dominic Cercone and incarcerated in McKean County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail, court records stated.
Meanwhile, fellow defendants Larry W. Shroyer, 46, of Derrick City, and James Arthur Luper, 44, had yet to be arraigned as of press time Monday.
All three are charged with aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, both first-degree felonies; two counts each of possession with the intent to deliver a controlled substance and delivery of a designer drug and one count of conspiracy to deliver a designer drug, all felonies; involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy to commit involuntary manslaughter, both first-degree misdemeanors; recklessly endangering another person, a second-degree misdemeanor; and possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor, court records stated.
Court records indicate Luper is incarcerated in state prison after being sentenced in 2016 in McKean County Court to 42 months to seven years for three drug-related cases.
The first arrest was made on the second anniversary of the day George Duke Jr., 25, was found dead in his home. Bradford City Police Chief Chris Lucco explained that the time it took for arrests to made in such a case is not unusual.
“Drug delivery deaths are very difficult ones to investigate as there typically are no witnesses and little evidence to go on,” said Lucco. “Fortunately for the family in this case, we were able to put the pieces together and make some arrests.”
Despite the difficulties, law enforcement officials have been making efforts in recent months to investigate drug deaths.
“This is the second arrest in the last few months relating to drug overdose deaths,” Lucco said. “I hope this shows the people who decide to sell deadly narcotics in our community that it will not be tolerated by our local law enforcement or our citizens.
“We still have several similar cases that are open and being actively investigated,” Lucco added. “These investigations take a substantial amount of time and resources. They often rely on both forensic evidence as well as cooperation of those involved.”
The allegations were outlined in the criminal complaint filed against Reid.
According to the complaint, at 11:08 a.m. Nov. 13, 2015, the McKean County 911 Center received a call from 580 E. Main St. about an unresponsive man.
At the scene, Bradford City Police and EMS found Duke face down on his bed, deceased. McKean County Coroner Michael Cahill drew a blood sample, and a subsequent toxicology test indicated there were butyryl fentanyl and a small amount of morphine in Duke’s blood; also, wrappers found on his nightstand contained butyryl fentanyl and heroin, court records stated.
Additionally, the criminal complaint stated that the Pennsylvania State Police Crime Lab extracted two DNA profiles from the wrappers: one for Duke and one for Shroyer.
Around that time, Reid was allegedly selling mixes of heroin/butyryl fentanyl in blue bags like those found next to Duke, and the same blue bags were found at 87½ High St. — her residence at the time — when she and the other residents of the apartment vacated it, court records state.
On Dec. 11, 2015, Luper, who was Reid’s boyfriend at the time, delivered a similar blue bag of heroin/butyryl fentanyl during a controlled buy conducted by the McKean County Drug Task Force, investigators allege.
Police interviewed Reid and several acquaintances and learned that she and Luper knew the drug “was very strong”: “Luper described it as ‘fire,’” and there were two overdoses in the days leading up to Duke’s death, the criminal complaint stated.
Shroyer allegedly purchased controlled substances daily from 87½ High St. and even negotiated a lower price with Luper for narcotics because of it.
Through interviews and Duke’s phone records, police learned that Reid and Luper “had contact in excess of several hundred times a month between text messaging, phone calls and in person visits to 87½ High St.” From Nov. 5, 2015, until Duke’s death, “the communication then showed a pattern between” Duke, Shroyer and Reid, court records stated.
Investigators indicate that cash withdrawals from Duke’s checking account also allegedly spiked on the days leading up to his death, which coincided with communication between the three.
Reid told police that after Duke died, “Shroyer said to her that ‘the drugs that killed George did not come from there,’” but she added, “that she did not believe that because when she heard the blue bags were found at Duke’s that she knew they had come from their house as they were the only ones that were selling blue bags,” the criminal complaint stated.
Reid is scheduled to appear in McKean County Central Court on Nov. 30.
No attorney is listed for any of the defendants.
