Arrest made in OD death
SAXONBURG — Thirteen months after a borough man died of an overdose, authorities have charged a Westmoreland County woman with providing him the lethal mix of drugs.
Saxonburg police Tuesday arrested Tedilee Sweeney, 39, of Arnold in the death of 35-year-old Drew A. Lydick on Aug. 15, 2016. The two were friends and co-workers at the same hair salon.
District Judge Wayne Seibel arraigned Sweeney on a top charge of drug delivery resulting in death, a first-degree felony that carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.
Additionally, she is charged with drug possession and criminal use of a communication facility, both felonies, and involuntary manslaughter, a misdemeanor.
She is being held in the Butler County Prison on $50,000 bail.
Police said they found Lydick's body during a welfare check at his apartment on Horne Avenue. His family notified authorities after they had not seen or heard from him for two days.
His father admitted that his son had a substance abuse problem.
Police found Lydick's body on the bed, next to a laptop computer. It appeared he had been dead for some time, according to court documents.
A search of the apartment turned up 12 glassine bags — the kind commonly used to package heroin, police said. The white bags were stamped with the name “Scorpion” and a picture of a scorpion on them.
Police also found several bottles of prescription medication.
An autopsy subsequently ruled Lydick died of “combined drug toxicity” of fentanyl, hydroxyzine, buspirone and mirtazapine, documents said.
Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid analgesic that is similar to morphine but 50 to 100 times more potent. It is legally prescribed to treat patients with severe pain. According to WebMD.com, hydroxyzine is an antihistamine, buspirone is an anxiolytic drug commonly used to treat anxiety, and mirtazapine is an antidepressant.
While investigating the death, police said they learned that Lydick was a stylist at Super Cuts in Fox Chapel, Allegheny County.Several co-workers knew of his addiction to pills, investigators said, and they believed he was taking medication for mental health issues.The employees also referred to Sweeney, another co-worker. They described the defendant and Lydick as being friends.One worker suspected Sweeney was a drug user, police said, and another thought she was with Lydick on the day he died.Police on Feb. 1 interviewed the defendant at her home. She acknowledged that Lydick had asked her, by text, to help him get heroin, documents said. She told him to come to her house. Sweeney recounted that she then took him to a nearby bar to buy heroin.About three weeks after speaking to the accused, police were finally able to unlock Lydick's phone and access text messages.In one message between Sweeney and Lydick, documents said, she told him she could get him a “bun.” Police allege “bun,” in that context, was short for “bundle.”A bundle is street slang for 10 stamp bags of heroin.Police described the text as being “consistent” with what the defendant had told investigators during her interview.“Also found on Lydick's phone were photographs of the drug packaging recovered from his apartment,” according to a police affidavit, “namely the glassine packets stamped 'Scorpion.'”Forensic tests on one of those bags, police noted, showed it contained fentanyl.Online court records did not indicate if Sweeney has an attorney. Her preliminary hearing is set for Wednesday at the office of District Judge Sue Haggerty in Saxonburg.
