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Michael Howard Butler II, 37 of Gratz, died following a "medical emergency" in his bunk in the Dauphin County Prison at 10:22 p.m. on Jan. 17, 2024, as Daily Voice previously reported.
It is now known that the emergency was caused by a fentanyl overdose from what Richard Leonard Weikel thought was heroin which he had smuggled into the prison in his shoe, the DA explained in the release on March 26.
Butler had struggled with addiction according to his court and prison record, but this drug delivery tragically, for his family, made this prison stay his last.
His death was ruled accidental and the cause was due to acute fentanyl and bromazolam toxicity, the detectives noted in the affidavit of probable cause.
Weikel had not made Butler pay for the drugs but had given them to him "as they were acquaintances within the prison," as stated in the affidavit of probable cause. During a sweep of the prison on Jan. 19, Weikel's urine tested positive for fentanyl, although no fentanyl or other drugs were found on his person or in his cell, as explained in the affidavit.
During an interview with the police on March 6, "Weikel admitted to detectives that he secretly smuggled what he thought was heroin into the prison in one of his shoes on January 17, 2024," the DA states in the release.
Weikel had been booked into the prison on Jan. 13 in connection with a DUI case, court records show.
Detectives from the Criminal Investigation Division of the Dauphin County District Attorney's Office filed criminal charges against Weikel for a drug delivery resulting in death and contraband (possession of a controlled substance by an inmate).
Weikel's preliminary arraignment is scheduled before Judge Michael Smith at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, March 27, and his preliminary hearing is set before the same judge at 2 p.m. on April 3, his latest court docket shows.
"As a result of this tragedy, the Dauphin County Prison has investigated and instituted new methods to prevent the smuggling of controlled substances into the prison using shoes. At the March 27, 2024, meeting of the Board of Prison Inspectors, Director of Criminal Justice John T. Bey will detail the new measures," the DA noted.
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