Fatal overdose charges move forward after hearing
» The case of Cristine Shafer, 23, of West Rockhill, who is charged with providing drugs in the fatal overdose of a Perkasie woman, moves forward to Bucks County Court following the Nov. 24 conclusion of a preliminary hearing.
Alisha Brown, whose cause of death was later determined to be from fentanyl toxicity, was found dead when officers responded to a Perkasie home about 3:50 a.m. Oct. 2, 2019, investigators say.
On the previous day, Brown, Shafer and Wilmer Palacios
Ramos, 27, of Souderton, went to Philadelphia, where Ramos bought heroin with money supplied by Shafer and each of the three received some of the heroin, investigators say.
Ramos previously waived his right to a preliminary hearing and is scheduled for trial in Bucks County Court on Jan. 7, 2021, court information shows.
In a separate incident, a woman who overdosed on her
oin in Hilltown in September of 2019 before being revived with Narcan said she got the drugs from Shafer, investigators say.
At the preliminary hearing, defense attorney Paul Lang argued that Brown could have gotten the drugs that killed her when Brown, Shafer and Ramos stopped at a bar on the way home or from someone else after she was dropped off at home.
“You don’t know what drugs killed her,” he said.
“You don’t know where
she got that fentanyl from,” Lang said. “All you know is fentanyl caused the passing of Miss Brown.”
In answer to questioning from Assistant District Attorney Christopher Rees, however, Perkasie Borough Police Department Detective Eric Richter said there was no evidence that Brown got the drugs from anyone other than Shafer and Ramos.
Lang also questioned where the drugs were used, saying it might not have been in Bucks County and therefore would not be under Bucks County jurisdiction.
“The outcomes occurred
in Bucks County,” and the case is in the county’s jurisdiction, Rees said.
Portions of a taped conversation between Shafer and another person were played in court during the preliminary hearing.
“She only got three bags. I only gave her three,” Shafer said on the recording, speaking about Brown. “She musta done too much or something.”
Shafer, who has been in Bucks County Correctional Facility since her June 21 arrest with bail set at 10 percent of $1 million, viewed the preliminary hearing under Covid conditions by a video hook up to Magis
terial District Judge Regina Armitage’s New Britain courtroom. The Nov. 24 portion of the hearing followed a Sept. 8 session at which the hearing was started.
Shafer was probably not a drug dealer per se, but did sometimes provide drugs to other people, Rees said.
“The evidence only points to one conclusion that these charges should be held for court,” he said prior to Armitage giving her decision.
Shafer’s formal arraignment in Bucks County Court will be on Dec. 23, Armitage said.
“It’s a sad case all the way around,” she said. “It’s
one that leaves you with a pit in your stomach, that’s for sure.”
The charges include drug delivery resulting in death, criminal conspiracy, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, receipt of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, involuntary manslaughter, criminal use of a communication facility and recklessly endangering another person.
Shafer was the girlfriend of and was with 2016 Pennridge High School graduate 19-year-old Iziah Ramon-Lewis when he was shot to death on Oct. 29, 2016 at Second Street Park in Perkasie. Investigators said the shooting happened during a failed marijuana robbery attempt by four other teenagers. Three were sent to juvenile detention facilities, with the fourth sentenced in adult court to state prison.
In August of 2019, Shafer was sentenced to four years probation, 50 hours of community service and drug and alcohol treatment after having pleaded guilty to possessing marijuana and giving false reports to police at the time of the shooting and, in a separate case, possessing heroin and drug paraphernalia.