EVANS CITY — A Zelienople woman accused of dealing fentanyl-laced heroin, which has been linked to numerous suspected fatal overdoses in Western Pennsylvania, waived her preliminary hearing Tuesday on felony and other charges.

Her case now moves toward trial.

Moments earlier, April L. Opperman, 41, met privately in District Judge Wayne Seibel’s courtroom in Evans City with the state investigator who filed the pair of cases against her.

Authorities would not say if the meeting and the subsequent waiver had anything to do with the other, such as an attempt for Opperman’s cooperation in exchange for a better legal deal later.

“I can’t address that,” said county Detective Tim Fennell, who heads the Butler County Drug Task Force and assisted in the investigation. “All I can say is that we’ll follow every possible lead and do whatever we can to stop the deaths.”

Members of the county’s drug task force, state narcotics agents and Zelienople police arrested Opperman on Jan. 28 at her three-story rental house on West Beaver Street.

Her arrest came after two apparent heroin overdoses on consecutive days that prior weekend. One of the victims was Opperman’s 17-year-old daughter, who overdosed Jan. 24 at the family’s home, authorities said.

Police said when they got there they noticed 20 stamp bags marked “Theraflu” as well as syringes and other drug paraphernalia.

Bags stamped“Theraflu,” “Bud Ice,” and “Income Tax” are believed to contain a deadly mix of heroin and fentanyl, according to authorities.

The combination is suspected in more two dozen deathsin Western Pennsylvania since mid-January. Three of the deaths occurred in Butler County.

On Jan. 25, a 38-year-old man overdosed at his home in Zelienople, authorities said.

The man and Opperman’s daughter, after being revived, identified Opperman as the supplier of the heroin they injected, according to court documents.

Before investigators moved to arrest Opperman, they conducted a sting Jan. 28 using a police informant, investigators said.

The informant, with officers listening in, spoke to Opperman on the telephone.

The informant asked her if she had any heroin.

“Opperman stated that she did,” documents said, “and indicated that it was ‘Theraflu.’”

Later, the informant went to her house and paid $60 for three bags of heroin, all branded “Theraflu.”

The evidence enabled investigators that day to get a search warrant for Opperman’s house. The search turned up 18 bags of heroin stamped with the name “Theraflu.”

Opperman on Tuesday waived to court felony and misdemeanor drug possession charges stemming from the search. The state attorney general’s office filed that case Jan. 28.

The AG’s office on Tuesday filed a second case against Opperman for allegedly selling the drugs to the informant.

Opperman in that case also waived charges that included delivery of a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, both felonies, as well as a misdemeanor count of possession.

State narcotics agent Douglas Brink, the charging officer, offered no comment about the investigation or his private meeting with Opperman in the back of Seibel’s courtroom.

The meeting lasted between 5 and 10 minutes, with Brink doing most of the talking.

Opperman’s attorney, public defender Ryan Hensel, also refused to say if authorities have offered to strike a deal with his client if she provides the name of her supplier or other information deemed valuable in the investigation.

Opperman remains in the county prison on $110,000 bail.