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Brian Joseph O’Connell, of Philadelphia, pleaded guilty to three counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, one for each of the cases, according to the Bucks County District Attorney's Office.
In the most recent case, O’Connell was charged with selling drugs inside the Bucks County Correctional Facility, a day after he was booked on his October 2021 drug-related arrest in Bensalem.
A medical emergency was reported in the early hours of Oct. 12, 2021, after an inmate passed out and stopped breathing, authorities said. A corrections officer began CPR, and the inmate was revived and transported to Doylestown Hospital for treatment.
Later that day, corrections officers did a contraband check, and found a small blue pill and crushed blue powder on O’Connell, along with “owe sheets,” complete with dates, times, and dollar amounts, they said.
Two days later, during another search, officers found four more blue pills on O’Connell.
The hospitalized inmate later told investigators that he bought the pill for $100 from an inmate who got it from O’Connell. He believed the pill was oxycodone, but hospital tests showed fentanyl in his blood, authorities said.
O’Connell later admitted to coming to prison with 16 small blue pills and selling six to one inmate and four to another, according to the DA's office.
He was first booked into the jail on Oct. 10, 2021, after Bensalem police officers on patrol near the Lincoln Motel located at 2277 Lincoln Highway, spotted a U-Haul van that had been reported stolen a day earlier in Bristol, they said.
O’Connell had previously borrowed the van from a friend but then stole the key and took it without permission, investigators said.
Inside the van, police found mail and Amazon packages with O’Connell’s name, along with two suspected meth pipes, they said.
The investigation eventually led police to a room at the motel where O’Connell was staying with a woman. When police went to talk to O'Connell, they saw drug paraphernalia inside his room.
A search of the room led to the seizure of 32.89 grams of methamphetamine, and marijuana, pills, suboxone strips and other drug paraphernalia, authorities said. Police also located the key to van in his pants.
An investigation into O'Connell first began on Jan. 7, 2021, when he sold 27.87 grams of methamphetamine to a confidential informant, authorities said.
Months later, on June 15, 2021, Upper Southampton Township police officers found 74.04 grams of methamphetamine and other drugs, including fentanyl, oxycodone, and amphetamine during a traffic stop, they said.
These cases were prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Ashley Towhey.
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