Hearing for Man Facing Drug Charges Following Overdose Incident in Sugarcreek Borough Set for Tomorrow

| May 24, 2022

VENANGO CO., Pa. (EYT) – A 37-year-old man is due in court on Wednesday afternoon on drug charges following an overdose incident in Sugarcreek Borough.

According to court documents, a preliminary hearing for 37-year-old Isreal Taurus Chapman, of Farrell, is scheduled for 1:30 p.m., on Wednesday, May 25, in Venango County Central Court with Judge Lowrey presiding.

He faces the following charges:

– Marijuana, Small Amount for Personal Use, Misdemeanor
– Use/Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Misdemeanor

Details of the case:

According to a criminal complaint, police were dispatched to an area near Fox Street and Parker Avenue, in Franklin, Venango County, for a report of an overdose in a vehicle.

Upon arrival, police observed a female being placed in an ambulance, and paramedics advised she had been completely unresponsive until they administered Narcan. Initially, the call came in as an overdose, but the driver, later identified as Isreal Chapman, changed his story, stating that she may be having a seizure and that he alleged she had a history of seizures, the complaint states.

Police then asked Chapman on scene what had happened, and he again stated that she was having a seizure. Police eventually recognized Chapman from previous drug dealing incidents in the area in the past years, according to the complaint.

Chapman then stated that he had driven to Oil City to visit a friend and claimed that he did not know the victim’s last name. Police advised Chapman that they know he had been associated with the known victim for several years. Chapman acknowledged this, according to the complaint.

Police determined the vehicle would be secured by officers and transported via tow truck to the Sugarcreek Borough Police Department until a determination of any evidentiary value that the vehicle and its interior may have regarding the investigation of an overdose delivery, the complaint states.

Police then interviewed the victim at UPMC Northwest, who stated that Chapman had taken her to an unknown location in Oil City and supplied her with what was supposed to be crack. Once she smoked it, she said that she knew it wasn’t right. The victim stated that what was supposed to be crack that Chapman had bought her looked to be too gray to be a crack rock. The victim also stated that when she smoked what she believed to be a crack rock, she noticed a medicine-like taste and stated it was “kinda like when you chew aspirin.” The victim stated that within just a few minutes she felt like she was overheating in the vehicle and rolled the window down, the complaint indicates.

The victim related to police that she told Chapman she knew what he had given her wasn’t right at that point and said that she was “falling out.” The victim stated that Chapman then took the crack pipe, removed a Chore Boy from the pipe, and gave the pipe back to her. The victim stated she saw the pipe slide down her legs onto the passenger side floor. The victim stated she was in his car when all this happened. She also stated that the last thing she saw was a church as she was going up a small hill. (This is the Grace United Methodist Church on Front Street.), the complaint notes.

A search warrant was later requested and granted for the vehicle. During the search, the crack pipe was not recovered where the victim stated it would be, and it was not found in the vehicle. Officers recovered a small piece of Chore Boy, with burnt residue, wrapped in a paper towel next to the driver’s seat, the complaint states.

Also recovered from Chapman’s car were a loose marijuana bud from a book bag, a plastic jar of possible medical marijuana, a larger piece of Chore Boy, and a metal pick that contained burnt residue. A phone was recovered from the car, and the victim advised that this was not her phone and that her phone was missing from the vehicle. Other than her coat, an earring, and her necklace, all other traces of the victim being in the car had been removed. The victim’s cell phone was later recovered on the side of the road as if it had been tossed out of a moving vehicle approximately half a mile farther up the road than the last scene that the victim remembers seeing, the complaint indicates.


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