Man Pleads Guilty in Connection with Bellefonte Area Drug Overdose Deaths

A Westmoreland County man has pleaded guilty to providing drugs that caused the overdose deaths of two women in Spring Township more than two years ago.

Timothy J. King, 38, entered a guilty plea on Wednesday for two felony counts of drug delivery resulting in death, Centre County Assistant District Attorney Julia Lockman said. According to the plea agreement, King faces a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 3 by Judge Julia Rater.

Additional felony charges of criminal use of a communication facility and possession with intent to deliver, as well as a misdemeanor count of possession of a controlled substance will be dropped as part of the plea.

Spring Township police responded on March 23, 2022 to a residence where they found two women, ages 33 and 59, in cardiac arrest. The 33-year-old died in the hospital on March 27 from what an autopsy concluded was a combination of drugs, including fentanyl. The 59-year-old died two days later, and an autopsy found she died of fentanyl toxicity, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

King is one of two men charged with playing a direct role in the overdoses. The other, 40-year-old Jonathan Baird, of State College, is accused of purchasing the drugs from King and supplying them to the two women.

Baird faces two counts each of drug delivery resulting in death, possession with intent to deliver and possession of a controlled substance and one count of criminal use of a communication facility. His case is still pending in Centre County Court.