Bensalem man gets 5 to 10 years in prison for friend's OD death
James E. Breneman pleaded guilty Oct. 13 to charges including drug delivery resulting in death. He purchased six bags of heroin in North Philadelphia for $60 and sold five bags to Ryan Patrick Reed, 25, who was later found dead in his bed at his family's Bensalem home by his father on Jan. 5, 2017.
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A 29-year-old Bensalem man was sentenced to five to 10 years in state prison for providing drugs to a friend who fatally overdosed early last year, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said Wednesday.
James E. Breneman pleaded guilty Oct. 13 to charges including drug delivery resulting in death. He purchased six bags of heroin in North Philadelphia on Jan. 5, 2017, for $60 and sold five bags to Ryan Patrick Reed, 25, who died later that day in his family's Bensalem home. The victim's father found the body. The drug Reed ingested contained 3-methylfentanyl, a synthetic opioid considered 100 to 200 times more potent than fentanyl, prosecutors said.
Reed had just spent 33 days in a drug rehabilitation program. However, he had been in communication with Breneman and had asked if Breneman was "still dabbling" in heroin.
The victim's father, John J. Reed, said his son became addicted in 2015 to prescription drugs that his mother was taking during a terminal illness.
A psychological report said Breneman, who was sentenced Tuesday, had struggled with addiction since his senior year in high school after his father died of cancer. Linda Breneman, the defendant's mother, said she had a brother and sister die from heroin overdoses and that she was a recovering alcoholic.