Elizabeth woman gets jail time for 2017 overdose death
An Elizabeth woman will serve three to six months in jail after pleading guilty Monday to involuntary manslaughter in a man’s overdose death.
Melanie Sphar, 44, was charged with drug delivery resulting in death after Ryan Evans, 27, was found not breathing in the bathroom of a home on Center Avenue in Elizabeth on Aug. 7, 2017.
He died a short time later at Jefferson Hospital.
An autopsy showed Evans died from combined drug intoxication involving fentanyl and carfentanil, according to a criminal complaint.
Police said that another woman, Alisha Yancey, served as the go-between and bought five stamp bags from Sphar that morning, giving four to Evans, and keeping one for herself.
The complaint said that after Yancey snorted what she bought, she realized that it was likely fentanyl and not heroin. She texted Evans at 11:39 a.m. to warn him that it was strong. He replied five minutes later, agreeing with her. He was found having overdosed less than three hours later.
According to the complaint, when investigators interviewed Sphar, she told them that she had bought the stamp bags from her cousin, and the day before she sold them to Yancey, her cousin and that woman’s boyfriend overdosed and had to be revived with naloxone by Glassport police officers.
Sphar knew what she sold was potent, and she said she told Yancey.
Sphar also pleaded guilty to criminal use of a communication device and delivery of fentanyl.
Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Thomas E. Flaherty also ordered Sphar to serve four years probation.
Paula Reed Ward is a TribLive reporter covering federal and Allegheny County courts. She joined the Trib in 2020 after spending nearly 17 years at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where she was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team. She is the author of “Death by Cyanide.” She can be reached at pward@triblive.com.
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