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Darryl Brown Jr., 32, has been charged with drug delivery resulting in death following Emma Allen's death, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Lower Merion Township Police Superintendent Michael J. McGrath announced.
Lower Merion Police arrived at the Casa Del Sol Apartments on Lancaster Avenue for a reported cardiac arrest around 12:50 p.m. on Aug. 21, 2020, Steele and McGrath said.
There, they found Allen on the living room floor, already dead, authorities said.
A ceramic plate containing lines of a powder, a credit card and a rolled-up $20 bill were found inside of the apartment, Steele and McGrath said.
Interviews and a search of Allen's phone revealed that she had been texting Brown in the hours leading up to her death, and had arranged to buy a gram of cocaine and two ecstasy pills from him for $142, authorities said.
Brown told Allen he would be in the parking lot next to her apartment building at 9:30 p.m., on Aug. 20, according to Steele and McGrath.
A review by authorities of Allen’s CashApp account showed that she sent the $142 to Brown.
On Aug. 21., detectives arranged the same buy and arrested Brown for Possession With Intent to Deliver (PWID) when he showed up at the meet location, police said.
Brown was in possession of a clear plastic bag of white powder, pills, and marijuana, at the time of his arrest, police said.
National Medical Services tested the contents on the plate, the residue on the rolled-up $20 bill and credit card that were in Allen's apartment and found they contained fentanyl and heroin, authorities said.
They also tested the powder found on Brown at the time of his arrest and found it contained fentanyl and heroin while the pills seized during his arrest were found to be methamphetamine.
“This defendant was selling bags of illicit drugs as cocaine that did not contain any cocaine and instead contained the even deadlier fentanyl and heroin, while the ecstasy pills he was selling were actually methamphetamine," Steele said.
"This should be of great concern to drug users."
“It is truly ‘buyer beware’ as there is no guarantee that what a drug dealer says he is selling is actually what is being sold. Law enforcement in Montgomery County will continue to hold drug dealers accountable for selling the deadly drugs that kill people.”
Allen's body was taken to The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office on Aug. 22 where they performed an autopsy.
Following the autopsy and results of toxicology tests, Forensic Pathologist Dr. Fredric Hellman ruled on Nov. 13, 2020, that the cause of death was drug intoxication from fentanyl and methamphetamine.
Brown was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Karen Eisner Zucker, who set bail at $500,000, authorities said.
He was unable to make bail and was remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.
A preliminary hearing was set for 11:30 a.m., on Jan. 22, before Judge Zucker.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Roderick Fancher III.
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