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Jessica Lopez of Kensington is being charged with drug delivery resulting in death for the June 15, 2020 overdose death of Matthew Warren, in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele, and Lower Merion Township Police Superintendent Michael J. McGrath said.
The driver told police he had picked up Warren on East Sterner Street in the Kensington section of Philadelphia and was driving him home in Narberth when he became unresponsive around 5:30 p.m., Steele and McGrath said.
The driver called 9-1-1, and police found Warren lying across the back seat of a car being used as an Uber, at the intersection of St. Asaphs Road and Conshohocken State Road in Bala Cynwyd, Steele, and McGrath said.
Authorities found a cellphone, credit cards, a money clip, and seven small plastic baggies, stamped in red with “ROCKY,” containing a powdery substance on Warren, Steele and McGrath said. They also found two empty baggies of the same type and a straw, consistent with being used to snort heroin/fentanyl.
During an investigation of Warren's phone, detectives used text messages, Uber receipt records, records from a money transfer app, and cell site analysis, to determine that on the day of his overdose death, Warren made a $90 ATM withdrawal before leaving home in Uber at 4:01 p.m., authorities said.
He was then dropped on East Sterner Street in Philadelphia, a few houses away from Lopez’s home, who texted to meet her outside down the block, around 4:34 p.m., Steele and McGrath said.
Warren replied and asked Lopez: “Can I go in your car real fast? So I can do it?” -- in relation to consuming the drugs, Steele and McGrath said.
Warren apparently sent money to the CashApp account $cashapp131, in the 15 minutes he was in Kensington, and at 4:47 p.m., he was picked up on East Sterner Street by the Uber driver who made the 9-1-1 call, Steele and McGrath said.
Through further investigation, authorities also found that Warren had previously sent 33 payments totaling approximately $1,900 to the same CashApp account from Nov. 20, 2019, through the date of Warren's death, Steele and McGrath said.
His travel history on the Uber app also revealed multiple trips to East Sterner Street in Philadelphia, Steele and McGrath said.
Authorities then executed a search warrant on Lopez’s home, where she lived with her 18-month-old son, and her car on July 21, 2020, Steele and McGrath said.
During the search, authorities seized, drug packaging materials and paraphernalia, scales, a loaded .32 caliber Deringer firearm, marijuana, and several pills, as well as her cellphone, Steele and McGrath said.
“During a six-month time period prior to his death, Warren paid this defendant nearly $2,000 in 33 payments through a cash transfer app and took multiple Ubers to and from her residence in Kensington -- the same spot where she sold him the fentanyl that killed him,” said Steele.
“Matthew Warner was just one customer of hers and now he’s dead. Drug dealers need to know that law enforcement in Montgomery County will continue to hold drug dealers accountable for selling the deadly drugs that kill people.”
When NMS Laboratories analyzed the contents of the seven baggies found on Warren at the time of his death, they found they contained a combination of caffeine, 4-ANPP, acetylfentanyl, fentanyl, heroin, and xylazine, Steele and McGrath said.
The two empty bags stamped “ROCKY” and the straw was found to contain caffeine and fentanyl in one bag and 4-ANPP, caffeine, fentanyl, and heroin in the other bag and the straw, Steele and McGrath said.
The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office performed an autopsy on Warren’s body on June 16, 2020.
Following an autopsy and toxicology tests performed by the Montgomery County Coroner's Office on June 16, 2020, it was ruled on Jan. 7 that the cause of death was a lethal dose of fentanyl, according to Forensic Pathologist Dr. Kahlil S. Wardak.
Lopez was arrested on Jan. 26, on charges of drug delivery resulting in death, possession with intent to deliver, person not to possess a firearm, criminal use of a communications facility, recklessly endangering another person, and related charges.
She was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Michael P. Quinn, who set bail at $350,000 cash.
She was unable to make bail and was remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.
Her preliminary hearing date is set for Feb. 5, at 9:30 a.m.before Magisterial District Judge Karen Zucker.
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