Richard A. Paskosky

A Butler man on probation after a 2016 altercation that left another man dead was sentenced to county jail in Butler County Court on Wednesday, after being charged with possession of 39 bags of heroin.

Richard A. Paskosky, 47, was sentenced to 7 to 23 months in Butler County Prison by President Judge Thomas Doerr.

He was given 175 days time served credit, and ordered to pay court costs and complete 80 hours of community service.

Paskosky previously pleaded guilty to felony possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance on Jan. 12.

He was charged Aug. 17 with the felony possession charge to which he pleaded, as well as felony criminal use of a communication facility, and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia and two counts of possession of a controlled substance, after an incident at his home on Jill Drive in Center Township.

The remaining charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

The Butler County Drug Task Force filed the charges after meeting with county probation officers to perform a probation check at the home. During the visit officers found a small tin box in the drawer of a living room coffee table, which contained 39 stamp bags of heroin, a digital scale and additional contraband including empty stamp bags and other packaging materials, two crack pipes, three snorting tubes, a glass vial and two push rods.

In addition to $2,340 found in another box, the search turned up pills of two different medications for which Paskosky did not have prescriptions, a cell phone and 17 rounds of ammunition, police said.

Following a search warrant application for the phone, text messages were found from people asking to buy heroin and Paskosky replying with what it would cost, police said.

“Paskosky also states he 'is in it 4 the money not the buzz,'” the affidavit said.

To learn more about this case, read Thursday's Butler Eagle.