A Harleysville man has been sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to a drug charge that was levied in the wake of the fatal overdose of 36-year-old Trevor Edwards, whose body was found in December 2020 at a desk on the Merck campus in Upper Gwynedd Township.
As part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, 43-year-old Kevin Daley was sentenced last month to three years’ probation after pleading guilty to one misdemeanor count of purchase or receiving a controlled substance by an unauthorized person. In exchange for his plea, felony charges of possession with intent to distribute and criminal use of a communication facility were withdrawn, court record show.
A spokesperson for the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said the plea agreement was struck after further review of text conversations between Daley and Edwards called into question how the drugs were acquired. The spokesperson said, given the ambiguity surrounding that detail, prosecutors likely would not have been able to make a case on the felony charges, so they were instead withdrawn, and the original possession of a controlled substance charge was reduced to purchase or receiving a controlled substance by an unauthorized person.
Having entered a guilty plea to the drug charge, Daley is now prohibited from owning a firearm.
Investigators initially alleged that during the evening of Dec. 26, 2020, Daley sold pills containing fentanyl to Edwards. Following the transaction, the two men exchanged hundreds of texts indicating they were both crushing up and snorting the fentanyl pills, with additional messages referencing the drug’s effects and Daley dealing with some negative effects of the drug, according to the 26-page criminal complaint.
At 7:23 a.m. the following morning, Edwards’ sent a text to Daley stating: "Been a while since I blacked out and went [on] a time warp,” the report states. Daley responded immediately by saying "I love it. Fentanyl baby. Fun s—t,” according to the complaint.
The report states a few minutes later, Edwards sent another text to Daley asking if he was ok, in reference to the negative experience that he had from the drug. It was the last text Edwards would ever send, investigators said.
Upper Gwynedd Township Police were dispatched to Building 29 at the Merck campus on Sumneytown Pike at 6:16 p.m. on Dec. 27, 2020, for a report of an unconscious subject. Arriving police found Edwards body seated in a chair at his work desk, and an autopsy would later list Edwards’ cause of death as fentanyl toxicity and his manner of death as accidental.
According to his obituary, Edwards was a certified Master Plumber who graduated from Hamburg Area High School in 2002 and was working at Merck as a pipe fitter. Edwards was survived by a wife and two children.
Investigators spoke with Daley in a conference room on the Merck campus in April 2021, at which point Daley confirmed he was the owner of the phone that was sending messages to Edwards, the report states. Daley told investigators that he met Edwards in April 2019 while the two were working at Merck, and he had last spoken to him the night before his death, according to the complaint.
Charges were officially filed against Daley on Jan. 19, 2022. Court records show Daley was represented by defense attorney Ryan L. Hyde, Esq., of the Hyde Tebay Law Firm.
In response to a request for comment from North Penn Now in the days following Daley’s arrest, a Merck spokesperson said they were cooperating fully with the authorities, and added they were conducting an internal investigation of their own at the site.
“The employee in question has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the investigation,” the spokesperson said.
See also:
Man Sentenced to Prison for Sexually Assaulting Young Girl in Hatfield
Montgomery Township Man Sentenced to Prison for Sexual Assault of Neighbor
Man Pleads Guilty to Armed Confrontation with Police Outside of Telford Night Market
Man Pleads Guilty to Montgomery Township Hit and Run that Left Elderly Man with Serious Injuries
