Man Charged with Providing Drugs That Led to Woman’s Overdose Death in Falls Township
A man was charged on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, with providing the drugs that led to a woman’s overdose death in Falls Township in November 2021.
Steven Frederick Yard Jr., 31, of S. Kenwood Drive in Tullytown, was charged with drug delivery resulting in death, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, involuntary manslaughter, recklessly endangering another person, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.
He was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Jan Vislosky and was released on $100,000 unsecured bail.
This investigation began on Nov. 16, 2021, when Falls Township Police were dispatched at 11:14 p.m. to 100 Yardley Ave. for an overdose. Upon arrival, officers located Mary Coyle, 39, deceased on a bed and Steven Yard actively overdosing on the floor in the same bedroom.
Falls Township Detective Stephen Reeves spoke to Yard in the emergency room of Jefferson Health - Bucks Campus in Falls Township.
Through the investigation, Reeves learned that Yard drove to the Kensington section of Philadelphia and purchased 12 bags of heroin for himself and Coyle. When he returned to the residence on Yardley Avenue, Yard and Coyle both used the heroin.
Yard woke up to find Coyle deceased in the bed, so he rolled her on her back and began to perform CPR. Yard did another bag of heroin and discarded several bags of heroin under a couch in the room when the police arrived.
During the investigation, police seized a dollar bill used to snort drugs, along with three empty blue-colored wax paper bags, commonly used to package heroin. Under a couch, police located six more wax paper bags, these ones containing suspected heroin/Fentanyl. The deputy coroner located three more wax bags contained suspected heroin/Fentanyl in the robe Coyle was wearing.
An autopsy later concluded that Coyle died of acute Fentanyl intoxication and lab results indicated that all the contents of the wax paper bags tested positive for Fentanyl. The dollar bill tested positive for the presence of cocaine.
This case was investigated by Falls Township Police Department, led by Detective Stephen Reeves, and is assigned for prosecution to Assistant District Attorney Chad R. Kovack.
Media Contact: Manuel Gamiz Jr., 215.348.6298, mgamiz@buckscounty.org
Criminal charges are allegations subject to proof in court. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
