Hatboro woman faces trial for man’s overdose death
NORRISTOWN >> A Hatboro woman has her jury and her trial will unfold this week on charges she delivered a fatal dose of fentanyl to a Willow Grove man.
Gwendolyn Marie Prebish, of the unit block of Rorer Avenue, faces charges of drug delivery resulting in death, involuntary manslaughter and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance in connection with the November 2016 overdose death of Michael Pastorino, 32, of the Willow Grove section of Upper Moreland.
County Assistant District Attorney Kathleen McLaughlin and defense lawyer Jonathan J. Sobel spent Monday selecting a jury of 12 and two alternate jurors for Prebish’s trial. Judge Steven T. O’Neill will preside over the jury trial that is expected to last about five days.
Prebish, who turns 30 on Friday, remains in the county jail while awaiting the outcome of her trial.
A conviction of drug delivery resulting in death is punishable of up to 40 years in prison, a penalty that is similar to third-degree murder.
An investigation began about 6:45 p.m. Nov. 6, 2016, when Upper Moreland police responded to the 600 block of Fitzwatertown Road for a report of a drug overdose. Officers found Pastorino dead, seated in a chair at his desk and clutching a syringe in his left hand, according to the criminal complaint filed by Upper Moreland Detective Francis Gallagher and Montgomery County Detective James McGowan.
At the scene, investigators recovered two syringes, blue wax bags stamped “Ferrari,” which was consistent with heroin packaging, and Pastorino’s cellphone, according to court documents.
An autopsy conducted by the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office determined the cause of Pastorino’s death was not heroin but was the even deadlier drug fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 40 to 50 times more deadly than street-level heroin, prosecutors alleged. The coroner ruled the death accidental as a result of drug intoxication.
Detectives found text messages on Pastorino’s cellphone indicating he contacted Prebish, his alleged drug dealer, at 11:32 p.m. Nov. 5, requesting four bags of heroin, according to court papers. At 1:13 a.m. Nov. 6, Prebish texted Pastorino asking if he had $40, detectives alleged.
When Pastorino indicated he had the money, Prebish texted him that she would be at his residence about 2 a.m. At 2:18 a.m. Nov. 6, Prebish arrived with the drugs and Pastorino was waiting for her outside, according to the complaint.
On Nov. 7, Prebish was arrested by Upper Moreland police after she allegedly sold suspected heroin in blue wax bags stamped “Ferrari” during a controlled drug buy.
“These were the same markings found on the bags of suspected heroin possessed by Pastorino at the time of his death,” detectives alleged in the arrest affidavit.
At the time of her arrest, Prebish also possessed several prescription pills, detectives alleged.
In an interview following her arrest, Prebish told detectives she met Pastorino in the driveway of his home on Nov. 6 and delivered $40 worth of heroin to him, “the same as she possessed on Nov. 7,” according to the criminal complaint.
When authorities tested the suspected “Ferrari” heroin seized from Prebish on Nov. 7 they determined the substance was fentanyl, according to the arrest affidavit.