An accused Delco drug dealer now faces charges in a woman’s overdose death
Tyrone Gilbert, who was arrested in May for drug possession, is now accused of selling Christy Slaughter the heroin that killed her, according to prosecutors.
A Yeadon man who was out on bail after being charged with drug possession has been arrested again, prosecutors said Thursday, for supplying heroin to a woman who overdosed.
Tyrone Gilbert, 37, was taken into custody Wednesday and charged with drug delivery resulting in death, involuntary manslaughter, and related offenses in the death of Christy Slaughter, according to court records.
There was no indication that Gilbert had hired an attorney.
Slaughter, 42, was found unresponsive inside a vehicle parked at a ShopRite in Upper Darby on May 19, along with another person, whom police did not identify, according to the affidavit of probable cause for Gilbert’s arrest.
Medics rushed Slaughter to Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, where she later died. The other person, who had been revived by medics on-scene, later told police that the two had bought heroin for $70 from Gilbert earlier that day, the affidavit said.
Days later, detectives from the Delaware County Drug Task Force used a confidential informant to buy more heroin from Gilbert. On May 26, detectives served a search warrant at Gilbert’s apartment in Yeadon and discovered large amounts of methamphetamine and heroin, according to court documents. Gilbert was taken into custody and charged with possession with intent to deliver.
His bail, initially $1 million, was reduced to $50,000, and he was released in August on home monitoring.
But in the intervening weeks, detectives were able to connect the heroin Gilbert had in his apartment to the same batch that Slaughter had purchased before her death — baggies from both locations bore the same “Low Key” stamp, prosecutors said.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said this second set of more serious charges Gilbert faces will work to “ensure that the defendant is held responsible for the full extent of his criminal conduct.”
“As we continue to confront the scourge of opioids in our communities, it has become heartbreakingly clear that we must stop the dealers who bring these deadly drugs into our community,” Stollsteimer said. “Connecting overdose deaths to the responsible dealers is incredibly difficult and painstaking work for investigators, but is a critical element in our response to overdose deaths.”