A Mahanoy City man is facing charges after an overdose death that occurred earlier this year was ruled a homicide.
On Wednesday, January 11, 2023, members of the Pennsylvania State Police and Schuylkill County District Attorney’s Office, Drug Task Force took Francis Merva, 57, of 323 West Spruce Street, Mahanoy City, into custody on drug charges.
Law enforcement had executed a Court Authorized Search and Seizure Warrant on his Mahanoy City home, seizing fentanyl and oxycontin. The warrant was part of an ongoing investigation into the sale of drugs from Merva's home.
Since then, he has spent the last 3 months in Schuylkill County Prison being held on $50,000 straight cash bail.
On Tuesday, April 25th, 2023, State Police Troopers Nicholas Reese and Scott Grochowski filed additional charges as a result of the investigation including drug delivery resulting in death, 2 counts of manufacture with intent to deliver a controlled substance, 2 counts of possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The charges were filed through Magisterial District Judge Anthony Kilker's Office in Shenandoah. Judge Kilker set bail at $100,000 straight cash bail for the new charges.
Court documents revealed that the charges stemmed from an investigation that began on the morning of January 11th, 2023, from the overdose death of Lori Ann Bright in the 300 Block of A Street in Girardville.
Investigators had questioned Bright's husband on where she had received the drugs. Investigators learned that Bright had bought fentanyl and oxycontin from Merva the day prior, on January 10th, from his home in Mahanoy City.
Police were able to confirm this information through text messages and track Bright's whereabouts through the ankle bracelet she was wearing at the time.
Later that day, the search and seizure warrant was executed on Merva's West Spruce Street home.
On January 17th, 2023, an autopsy was conducted on Bright's body by Forensic Pathologist Dr. Wayne Ross, of the Dauphin County Coroner's Office. It was Ross's opinion that Bright's cause of death was acute fentanyl toxicity.
As a result, the Schuylkill County Coroner's Office issued a death certificate citing the cause of death as Acute fentanyl toxicity with a manner of homicide.
Lab Tests by the Drug Enforcement Administration Northeast Laboratory found that the drugs recovered next to Bright's body at the time of her death and the drugs seized from Merva's home matched.
Merva remains locked up in Schuylkill County Prison.