Man cleared in fatal OD sentenced in another drug case
A Barnesville man found not guilty of supplying a fatal dose of fentanyl to a Tamaqua woman admitted to a Schuylkill County judge that he sold the drug to undercover agents last December.
Kyle J. Merenda, 24, will serve up to six years and 11 months in state prison.
Merenda pleaded guilty before Schuylkill County President Judge William E. Baldwin to manufacture, delivery, or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver a controlled substance and criminal use of a communication facility.
An additional charge of manufacture or delivery and a charge of possession of a controlled substance were dropped in plea negotiations.
Baldwin sentenced him to 21 months to five years in state prison on the delivery charge, plus an additional nine to 23 months on the communication facility charge.
Merenda was charged with selling the powerful narcotic to an undercover agent in Ryan Township on Dec. 18, 2017.
He also faces trial on Jan. 14 in Luzerne County on two felony counts of manufacture, delivery, or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver a controlled substance. He was charged by Hazleton police on Jan. 11, 2018.
A Schuylkill County jury on June 12 found Merenda not guilty of drug delivery resulting in death in the case of Alexandria “Alex” Sienkiewicz, 23, of Tamaqua.
Sienkiewicz died of an overdose of fentanyl on April 2, 2016.
