Delco Woman Who Sold Deadly Fentanyl Dose Gets Prison Time

DELAWARE COUNTY, PA — A Delaware County woman who sold a fatal dose of fentanyl to a Parkside man in March last year was sentenced to prison Tuesday, authorities said.

District Attorney Katayoun M. Copeland said Alexandria Santa Barbara, who was charged with distributing fentanyl that resulted in the fatal overdose of a 51-year-old Parkside man in March 2018, was sentenced 4-and-a-half to 10 years incarceration after entering an open guilty plea.

Santa Barbara, of Chester, was charged with drug delivery resulting in death on June 5, 2018, following the conclusion of an investigation conducted by Officer Patrick McKeown of the Parkside Borough Police Department and Detective Timothy Deery of the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office Criminal Investigation Division (CID) with assistance from Officer Louis Scaperotto and Officer Mark Marchesi of Parkside Police Department. On behalf of the Commonwealth, Deputy District Attorney Sharon McKenna, Chief of Narcotics Unit, prosecuted the case.

At about 8:19 p.m. on March 29, 2018, McKeown responded to the 200 block of Avon Road in Parkside for a report of an unconscious male. Police found a male slouched over on the floor next to the bed in the master bedroom who was pronounced dead at the scene. The medical examiner’s office recovered a blue wax paper/packaging containing a powder substance which tested positive as fentanyl. Delaware County Medical Examiner Dr. Fredric Hellman conducted a post-mortem, examination upon the deceased victim and ruled the cause of death as “acute fentanyl intoxication.”

Through the investigation, McKeown learned that prior to police arriving at the Avon Road home, the victim was seen with a woman, later identified as Santa Barbara, who lived across the street from the victim.

Further investigation by police revealed that Santa Barbara, had confided in a friend about the incident, saying that she "gave the guy across the street a bad bag." She also admitted to feeling guilty for the death of the neighbor to whom she delivered the heroin, and further admitted feeling guilty when seeing the deceased victim’s family.

On May 16, 2018, police interviewed Alexandria Santa Barbara who confirmed that she had delivered the drugs which caused his fatal overdose.

Image via Delaware County District Attorney's Office