Richard 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.

Paskosky was on probation following sentencing in June 2017 for two misdemeanor counts of simple assault, after he was charged with assault and burglary in relation to an incident that left 57-year-old Mark Cunning dead at a home in the 300 block of East Penn Street on Sept. 16, 2016. Cunning suffered a head injury in the altercation, and was taken to Butler Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. Butler City police charged Paskosky after he forced his way into a home and attacked Cunning and Nicholas Donaldson, who were armed with baseball bats, following a disagreement,

In that scuffle, Cunning eventually fell to the floor, hitting his head, police said.

Prosecutors previously said in that case there was not enough evidence to warrant a homicide charge.