Man draws prison for role in best friend’s fatal OD

Victim’s body was dumped outside Pottstown Hospital during attempted coverup

NORRISTOWN » A Douglass (Mont.) Township man was sent to state prison for his role in the fentanyl-overdose death of another man he reportedly considered his best friend and whose body was left on a patch of grass outside Pottstown Hospital during an attempted coverup of the incident.

Ronald Lee Shock, 37, of the 100 block of Montgomery Avenue, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court on Thursday to 37 to74 months in a state correctional facility on charges of involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy to commit possession with intent to deliver fentanyl in connection with the May 7, 2020, overdose death of Ramon “Ray” Morales, 35. Shock previously pleaded guilty to the charges.

The sentence was imposed by Judge Thomas C. Branca, who recommended that Shock be incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Chester, which offers inmates drug treatment programs.

With the guilty plea, Shock admitted that he acted recklessly in causing Morales’ death by conspiring with Joshua Kyle Benner to supply the drugs and by failing to render aid when he knew Morales was overdosing and dying.

Benner, 29, of the 100 block of Hopewell Lane, Franconia Township, previously was sentenced to seven to 14 years in state prison after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of drug delivery resulting in death in connection with the incident.

With the charges, detectives alleged the drugs were supplied by Benner and that Benner and Shock were negligent for not seeking immediate medical attention for Morales after Morales became unresponsive.

Assistant District Attorney Lindsey Mills and coprosecutor Lauren Marvel sought a state prison sentence against Shock.

“This was over a course of hours that he watched his friend die. He was equally responsible with Benner in the aftermath in terms of getting rid of the victim’s cellphone, getting rid of his wallet, so he couldn’t be identified,” Mills argued Thursday. “He didn’t choose his best friend that night. He chose protecting Josh Benner and he chose protecting himself. Saving their own skins was their most important priority.”

Shock watched the consequences of his actions and didn’t summon help for Morales, prosecutors argued.

Defense lawyer John I. McMahon Jr., who represented Shock, argued there were numerous mitigating factors in favor of Shock, who expressed remorse and apologized to Morales’s mother.

“He was suffering from a significant substance abuse disorder at the time of the offenses, and his conduct was very much intertwined with his drug addiction,” said McMahon, adding Shock had a history of gainful employment and “excellent family support.”

“He has great remorse over it all. It was his best friend since childhood. He expressed the heartache that he feels every day, wishing that he could turn back the hands of time,” added McMahon, who claimed Shock was high at the time of the incident.

In a victim impact statement, Luz Rodriguez, Morales’ mother, said her son trusted Shock and would have done anything for him.

“You betrayed that friendship. You dropped him like an animal and ran like a coward to cover your own tracks. You cut his life short. You have no heart, you let Ray die, did nothing to save him. The one that he trusted the most was his own enemy,” Rodriguez addressed Shock.

During the investigation, detectives located a “voice recorder” app installed on Benner’s cellphone and uncovered six recordings, some of which captured conversations that occurred between Benner and Shock on May 7 at the time Morales was overdosing from a combination of fentanyl and cocaine, according to court documents.

“In listening to the audio recording, Benner and Shock can be heard trying to decide what to do with Morales who was suffering from a drug overdose and not waking up,” Montgomery County Special Detective Andrew Rook and Pottstown Detective Brooke Hatfield alleged in a criminal complaint, adding Morales could be heard making noises typically “heard prior to death.”

Mills played portions of the audio recordings for the judge during the sentencing hearing.

In one audio recording, shortly after Morales began overdosing, Benner asked Shock, “How are we going to do this?”

Shock replied, “I guess, just kinda we can ‘Weekend at Bernie’ him down the stairs. We need to put a shirt and shoes on.”

The investigation began about 2:45 a.m. May 7 when Pottstown police responded to the hospital for a report of an unresponsive male found outside of the hospital, according to the arrest affidavit filed by Rook and Hatfield.

Hospital staff discovered the male, who had no identification and no cellphone, lying in a grassy area between the emergency room entrance and the parking lot and the man’s clothing was “soaking wet” despite the fact it had not been raining. The man could not be revived and he was pronounced dead.

Through multiple interviews, the cellphone audio recordings and cellphone data records, investigators determined Benner traveled with a female friend to the Kensington section of Philadelphia to buy cocaine and heroin/fentanyl on May 6, according to the arrest affidavit. Later that evening, Benner sold some of the drugs to Shock and Morales and they consumed the drugs about 11 p.m. at Shock’s residence.

“Morales used the drugs and was acting animated and high. However, Morales then began to nod off. After nodding off, Morales would not wake up. Benner and Shock tried to wake Morales up by placing him in the shower…” detectives, based on witness statements, alleged in the arrest affidavit, adding the men also called a friend to try to obtain Narcan, which is used to reverse an opioid emergency or overdose, to no avail.

From about 11:30 p.m. May 6 when Morales overdosed until 2:22 a.m. May 7 when Benner’s car was seen on hospital surveillance, the defendants did not call 911 or seek medical help, despite discussing the fact that Morales was overdosing, authorities alleged.

When detectives located the “voice recorder” app installed on Benner’s cellphone and listened to the recordings, Benner and Shock could be heard discussing placing Morales in the shower, and a shower was heard on one of the recordings, court papers alleged.

At 12:55 a.m., Benner allegedly told Shock that he “got to go trash all this (expletive)” and “got to get rid of it,” which detectives claimed is consistent with Benner trying to remove any evidence of drug use from Shock’s apartment — all prior to Morales being transported to the hospital.

The recordings also depicted Benner and Shock discussing how to drop Morales off at the hospital without being seen or captured by video surveillance.

“During the conversations captured before and after Morales was dropped off at the hospital, Benner and Shock can be heard discussing the situation and conspiring to make sure that their stories matched. They discussed cleaning up the apartment and trying to figure out what to do with Morales’s van that was parked in the apartment complex parking lot,” Rook and Hatfield alleged in court papers.

The investigation also determined Benner’s cellphone, in the days after Morales overdosed, was used to conduct internet searches for information related to Morales’s death including searches for “overdose victim dropped in front of pottstown hospital may 2020” and “pottstown homicide,” according to court papers.

When he was interviewed by detectives, Shock allegedly claimed Morales was his “best friend” and that Morales “probably would have been alive if Shock and Benner had called 911,” according to the arrest affidavit.

A search of Benner’s car during the investigation uncovered multiple baggies of heroin/fentanyl, cocaine and other illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia, authorities alleged.