A 26-year-old man will spend two to five years in state prison for supplying the drugs that led to a woman's overdose death at a Tullytown recovery house last summer.
Matthew Derby Lavender, of Bensalem, appeared before Common Pleas Judge Rea B. Boylan on Monday, May 23, 2022, and entered an open guilty plea to possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, involuntary manslaughter, criminal use of a communication facility, and possession of a controlled substance.
Boylan sentenced Lavender to concurrent sentences of two to five years for the counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and involuntary manslaughter. She also ordered for him to be screened for entry into the State Drug Treatment Program, undergo mental health and drug and alcohol screening and pay court costs.
Prior to sentencing the mother of 25-year-old Nikki Lee Silva read an impact statement, saying the loss of her daughter left a “huge feeling of emptiness” in her life. “There is no way to express my profound loss.”