Monessen man suspected in 3 fatal ODs to face federal trial

By EMILY BENNETT DILULLO
ebennett@yourmvi.com
A Monessen man accused of selling heroin and fentanyl that led to the deaths of three people this summer will stand trial in federal court.
Delmar Pritchett, 29, was arrested by a Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force last week. He was arrested Monday on charges of conspiring to distribute heroin and fentanyl believed to have contributed to three fatal and two non-fatal overdoses in the Mon Valley since June 15.
The case was unsealed Tuesday. The affidavit states Pritchett’s drug dealing caused overdose deaths in Monessen, Charleroi and Apollo this summer, DEA agents reported. Investigators also believe Pritchett was the dealer for two other overdose incidents that took place in Monessen and Grindstone.
During a hearing Wednesday in federal court, U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Reed Eddy held all of the charges for court and ordered Pritchett to remain in jail until his trial.
On June 15, Monessen police answered a call at a Knox Avenue residence and found Tamara Hill, 21, unresponsive in a bathroom.
Jeffrey Smaracheck, a task force officer with the DEA and Monessen police officer, said first responders’ efforts to revive Hill through Naloxone administration and CPR ultimately failed, and Hill was immediately transported to the hospital where she was pronounced dead. Her death was later confirmed to be from an acute-fentanyl overdose, according to the Washington County Coroner’s Office.
Monessen officers who responded to Hill’s residence recovered an empty glassine bag with residue and 49 glassine bags of heroin and fentanyl from the bathroom where she was found. Glassine bags are usually clear or white waxed paper bags typically used to stock heroin.
The bags recovered from Hill’s residence were blue in color and were stamped with the words, “TACO BELL” in blank ink.
Smaracheck reported the packaging for each glassine bag was unique in that each bag was individually packaged into a slightly larger zip-lock style bag, instead of being bundled together and wrapped in paper as typically seen by law enforcement within the Mon Valley.

To read the rest of the story, please see a copy of Thursday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.