A Tullytown man was sentenced on Monday, April 29, 2024, to state prison for providing the drugs that led to a woman’s overdose death in Falls Township in November 2021.

Steven Frederick Yard Jr., 32, pleaded guilty in January to charges of involuntary manslaughter, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, recklessly endangering another person, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

On Monday, Common Pleas Judge Gary B. Gilman sentenced Yard to 2 ½ years to 6 years in state prison, followed by two years of probation.

This investigation began on Nov. 16, 2021 when Falls Township police responded to an overdose call at 100 Yardley Ave. There, police located Mary Coyle, 39, deceased on a bed and Steven Yard actively overdosing on the floor in the same bedroom.

The investigation revealed that Yard drove to the Kensington section of Philadelphia and purchased 12 bags of heroin for himself and Coyle.  Yard and Coyle both used heroin at the Yardley Avenue residence.

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 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 containing 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 was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Chad R. Kovack.

Media Contact: Manuel Gamiz Jr., 215.348.6298, mgamiz@buckscounty.org