Shayne Emery

A West Liberty man who provided the fentanyl-laced heroin that led to his girlfriend’s death pleaded guilty Thursday to drug delivery resulting in death.

Prosecutors will recommend that Shayne Emery, 31, faces 4 to 15 years in state prison when he is sentenced Feb. 24 by Butler County Judge William Shaffer.

He remains in the county prison on a $100,000 bond.

Emery was charged with the crime, which is a first-degree felony, after 21-year-old Brittany Lee Hays died Feb. 2, 2014, of an overdose in her Worth Township home.

Among the items found near Hays’ body were four stamp bags labeled “Theraflu” and a pink zipper bag filled with stamp bags labeled “Burberry,” according to court records.

“Theraflu” was one of the street names used for heroin laced with the powerful synthetic painkiller fentanyl that was blamed last year for more than 20 fatal overdoses in Western Pennsylvania.

A day after Hays’ death, investigators interviewed Shayne Emery, who told them that he had given his sister, Amanda Emery, $400 to buy him heroin, according to court documents.

Amanda Emery made two drug-buying trips that day, providing in all 29 bags of heroin to her brother, police said.

Shayne Emery allegedly admitted that on Feb. 1 he sold to Hays, who he was dating at the time, four bags of heroin marked “Theraflu” in red ink, documents said. Those bags were among the ones he allegedly received from his sister.

Also during the interview, Emery admitted he had heard of “Theraflu” heroin in the media, and he had heard it had caused some deaths, police said.

Investigators on Feb. 4 spoke to Amanda Emery, who corroborated her brother’s account, police said.

Amanda Emery of West Liberty pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit possession with intent to deliver drugs.

Judge Shaffer will sentence her on March 5.

Assistant District Attorney Ben Simon and Shayne Emery’s defense attorney Joseph Smith declined to comment. Amanda Emery’s attorney, Joseph Nash, could not be reached.