St. Marys man facing drug death charges

A St. Marys man is incarcerated and facing several charges, including drug delivery resulting in death and involuntary manslaughter, in relation to an overdose death that occurred in September 2022 in the City of St. Marys.

Jesse Alan Weis, 27, last known address 140 Washington St., Apt. 4, St. Marys, is facing charges in relation to the incident, according to a criminal complaint filed at the office of Magisterial District Judge Mark Jacob in St. Marys.

On Sept. 14, 2022 at about 8:14 p.m., an officer with the City of St. Marys Police Department was dispatched to 131 Neubert St., St.

Marys, for a suspected drug overdose. The deceased was identified as 24-year-old Briana Lynn Rearick.

On scene, the officer observed an uncapped syringe in Rearick’s right hand, as well as an assortment of heroin/fentanyl-related paraphernalia and four empty bags of suspected heroin/fentanyl. Three of these bags were marked in blue with

“SRT” and the remaining bag was marked in black with “AP.”

Also seized at the scene was a cellular device. A subsequent search of this device was conducted on Sept. 15, 2022, and a review of the phone revealed a Facebook conversation between Rearick and Weis that took place on Sept. 13, 2022. During that conversation, Rearick advised Weis that she only had one full bag and two empty bags of heroin/fentanyl. Rearick planned to use her last full bag after work that evening and indicated that she would like to get another for the following day.

Weis contacted Rearick through Facebook on Sept. 13 at 9:24 p.m. advising that he had more heroin/fentanyl, and at 10:49 p.m. on that date, Weis

offered Rearick one bag of heroin/fentanyl via Facebook. Rearick acknowledged that she wanted the bag of heroin/fentanyl and arranged to purchase it for $20. Rearick and Weis arranged to meet at Sheetz in St. Marys.

An interview with Weis was conducted on Sept. 19, 2022. During this interview, Detective Gregg McManus of the Elk County District Attorney’s Office provided Weis with his Miranda Warnings. During this interview, it was found that Weis had met with Rearick at Sheetz on Sept. 13 and thereafter provided

her with one stamped bag for $20 and watched her use the stamped bag with a syringe. Weis advised that he then walked Rearick home and stated that “she was fine.”

At the end of the interview, Detective McManus was attempting to gain information as to who had provided the stamped bag to Weis. According to the affidavit of probable cause, Weis responded, “I totally sold her the bags, meaning I am the dealer.”

It was also found during the interview that Weis had used text messages to arrange the distribution of the bag of heroin/fentanyl. Detective McManus asked if there was anything

else that Weis wanted to speak about on his phone. Weis advised that they would not find anything as he had already deleted the conversation between himself and Rearick when he found out that she had died.

An autopsy was performed on Rearick by Forensic DX. This report indicated that Rearick died of acute multi-drug toxicity. The bag that Weis had sold to Rearick was submitted to Molecular DX for analysis. This bag was found to contain fentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl. The final anatomic diagnosis

provided by Forensic DX indicated the multidrug toxicity included fentanyl and parafluorofentanyl, which matched the analysis of the bag Weis had sold to Rearick.

Preliminary arraignment for Weis was held at 3:45 p.m. on March 9 before Judge Jacob.

Weis is facing one first-degree felony charge of drug delivery resulting in death; two ungraded felony charges of manufacture, delivery, or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver; one third-degree felony charge of criminal use of communication

facility; one firstdegree misdemeanor charge of involuntary manslaughter; one second-degree misdemeanor charge of tamper with/fabricate physical evidence; and two ungraded misdemeanor charges of intent to possess a controlled substance by a

person not regulated.

Bail for Weis was set at $500,000, 10 percent monetary. Unable to post bail, Weis was incarcerated at Elk County Prison.

A preliminary hearing for Weis is scheduled to be held at 9 a.m. on March 14 before Judge Jacob.