Man Pleads Guilty In Fatal Overdose Of Falls Twp. Woman

BUCKS COUNTY, PA —A Tullytown man pleaded guilty on Monday to providing the drugs that led to a woman’s overdose death in Falls Township in November 2021, authorities said.

Steven Frederick Yard Jr., 32, pleaded guilty before Common Pleas Judge Gary B. Gilman 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.

Following the plea, Yard’s bail was revoked, and he was taken into custody to await sentencing, which was deferred to a later date, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said.

Falls Township Police responded to an overdose at 11:14 p.m. on Nov. 16, 2021, at 100 Yardley Ave. and 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, authorities said.

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 containing suspected heroin and 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.