A Lansdale man has been charged in connection with the August 2022 fatal overdose of 23-year-old Wilkens Guerrier.
Gabrial Nolan, 21, of the 1000 block of East Main Street, was recently charged with felony counts of drug delivery resulting in death, possession with intent to distribute, and criminal use of a communication facility, along with related misdemeanor drug offenses, following an eight-month investigation into Guerrier’s death.
Police allege Guerrier contacted Nolan via the Telegram app on Aug. 20, 2022, to purchase two Percocet pills. Over the course of two days, Guerrier and Nolan arranged the exchange, with Nolan emphasizing that the pills were real and that he doesn’t “play with selling that fake s—t,” according to charging documents.
Guerrier picked up the pills from Nolan during the afternoon of Aug. 22, 2022, and fatally overdosed at his home on Bergey Road later that evening, police said. An autopsy was conducted two days later by the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office, which ruled Guerrier’s cause of death as drug intoxication from fentanyl and alcohol toxicity and his manner of death as accidental.
The forensic pathologist that performed the autopsy would later opine that, if it were not for the fentanyl that was found in Guerrier’s system, he would still be alive.
Hatfield Township Police, with assistance from the Montgomery County Detective Bureau, launched an investigation into Guerrier’s death that ultimately included a review of social media and text records, live surveillance, cell phone and vehicle tracking, and confidential informants. Investigators zeroed in on Nolan, surveilling his home and documenting multiple instances where they observed him selling drugs to others, according to the criminal complaint.
A search warrant was executed on Nolan’s home following Guerrier’s death, where police said they recovered more than five of the same pills Nolan had allegedly provided to Guerrier, along with marijuana, LSD, $4,439 in currency, drug paraphernalia, and THC brownies. During a subsequent interview with police, Nolan allegedly admitted to being the author of the Telegram messages and providing two pills to Guerrier.
Testing of the pills later revealed they were not oxycodone, but were instead comprised of fentanyl, gabapentin, and other controlled substances, according to charging documents. Police noted that during their interview with Nolan, he allegedly stated that he was not sure if the pills were real, as they made him feel funny when he had taken them.
Court records show charges were filed against Nolan on April 6, however he will not be arraigned on the charges until his preliminary hearing on May 17 in front of Magisterial District Judge Ed Levine. When asked about the delayed arraignment, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office said there was a scheduling conflict with one of the investigators who would not be available for the hearing until a later date.
Until his first court appearance, Nolan remains free. If convicted of the felony charge of drug delivery resulting in death, Nolan would face up to 40 years in state prison.
A review of Montgomery County court records shows Nolan has an active case on a misdemeanor drug possession charge in Montgomery Township from June 2022, however bail in that case was set to ROR.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using court records and the affidavit of probable cause.
See also:
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