After waiting about a year for lab results, police this week accused a Pittsburgh man of drug delivery in connection with the fatal overdose of a Lower Burrell woman.
Otis L. Henley, 44, was held in Westmoreland County Prison for the death of Candace Steck on May 4, 2020, including conspiracy to manufacture, supply or possess drugs and flee.
Henley’s preliminary hearing on the latest indictment is scheduled for May 18 in District Judge Cheryl Peck-Yakopec in Allegheny Township. He’s imprisoned in lieu of a $ 50,000 bond. His trial of the first drug charges is slated to begin on June 21.
Lower Burrell officials were investigating Steck’s death when they found 48 packages of suspicious heroin stamped with a red tulip in her bedroom. three empty packages with one red tulip; According to affidavits from the police, 47 packets of suspicious heroin were stamped with SRT8 and two empty packets with SRT8.
An agent from the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General’s Narcotics Office joined a Lower Burrell detective.
Police said they were assisted by someone who knew Steck and helped officers set up a fake drug purchase with Henley.
The deal was closed between Henley and the informant on May 6, 2020 in an undisclosed location in Lower Burrell, police said. The informant bought 20 packets of suspicious heroin, including 10 packets of SRT8 and 10 packets with a red tulip. The markings on the drugs the informant bought were the same as those in Steck’s bedroom, police said.
Henley and another person traveling with him were arrested after police set up a traffic obstruction. Henley was arrested and handcuffed. He tried to escape via Route 56, but the officers pursued and captured him.
Police said they found more packages of suspicious heroin on Henley, including packages containing SRT8 and others containing a red tulip.
Henley’s companion was interviewed by New Kensington police on May 7, 2020. She told them Henley had stashed extra narcotics in her father’s house on Victoria Avenue in Arnold. The police searched the house and found 22 packets of suspected heroin / fentanyl with a tulip stamp, two black bags with a blender containing brown powder residues, other bags with various powders and a 9 mm pistol.
A Henley attorney did not immediately return a call for comment on Monday.
Mary Ann Thomas is a contributor to Tribune Review. You can contact Mary at 724-226-4691, mthomas@triblive.com, or on Twitter.
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