53°
Matthew Derby Lavender, 25, was charged on Nov. 11 in the death of Nikki Lee Silva, Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub said.
Tullytown Borough Police were dispatched to a home in the 400 block of Main Street in Tullytown around 10:45 July 2, authorities said. There, they found Silva dead -- along with three used and two unused baggies of heroin and/or fentanyl, the DA said.
Lavender during an Aug. 20 police interview admitted to taking Silva, of Staten Island, to the Kensington section of Philadelphia, where he took money from her to buy six bags of fentanyl from a street dealer, authorities said.
When asked by the detective if the bags contained heroin or fentanyl, Lavender said "they're all fentanyl. There is no heroin no more," according to a criminal complaint.
Once Lavender bought the drugs, he gave them to Silva, who used the fentanyl and overdosed, authorities said. An autopsy determined she died of accidental acute fentanyl intoxication and a toxicology report found she had fentanyl and norfentanyl in her system.
"This case emphasizes our commitment to hold all drug dealers criminally accountable," Weintraub said.
"Our message to all the drug dealers out there: If someone dies from the drugs you dealt them, we will investigate you, arrest you, convict you, and sentence you, whenever possible."
Lavender was charged with drug delivery resulting in death, criminal use of a communication facility, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, involuntary manslaughter and possession of a controlled substance.
He was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Frank W. Peranteau and was sent to Bucks County Correctional Facility under $1 million bail, 10 percent.
The case was investigated by the Bucks County Detectives Drug Strike Force with the assistance of the Tullytown Borough Police Department and is assigned for prosecution to Deputy District Attorney Ashley C. Towhey.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Marlton-Evesham and receive free news updates.
