StemCell Therapy

Chrissy Suttles|Beaver County Times

BEAVER A woman charged with supplying the drugs that killed a New Brighton man goes to trial this week.

Melinda Crisci, 31, of Aliquippa, is charged in the death of 54-year-old Stephen Naim, who overdosed on a mixture of heroin and fentanyl on Christmas Eve 2019. Naim was the brother offormer Aliquippa Police Officer Jimmy Naim shot and killed on the job two decades ago.

You can imagine the impact on the family, and the emotional impact on Stephen Naim, with whats been going on for 20 years, said Beaver County District Attorney Dave Lozier, adding that Naim struggled with drug addiction.

Crisci faces one first-degree felony count of drug delivery resulting in death, two counts of possession with intent to deliver and two counts of criminal use of a communication facility.

According to a police affidavit, New Brighton Area police officers found Naim dead in his apartment on Dec. 24 two years ago, discovering several bags of heroin and fentanyl in his possession. His cause of death wasdrug poisoning.

Naims cell phone revealed a woman named Mindy, later identified to be Crisci, had likely supplied him with the deadly opioids. Police, posing as Naim, asked the woman via text message to bring $50 worth of drugs to the mans apartment. She allegedly arrived with seven bags of narcotics, including heroin and fentanyl.

In a recorded interview, Crisci told police she occasionally delivered drugs for a man referred to as Tiger in Aliquippa, and had supplied Naim with drugs a few days prior to his death.

When advised of Naims death, Crisci allegedly said its next to impossible for people to die from snorting it.

Naim graduated from Hopewell High School in 1984 and studied at the University of Pittsburgh, according to his obituary, and did consulting work for years.

Even though Steve suffered with Leukemia at an early age, which attributed to several illnesses during his lifetime, he lived it caring for others, his obituary read. Family and friends were the center of his life. Steve was a kid at heart, he treasured making the children in his life feel loved.

The Beaver County District Attorneys Office has prosecutedmore than two dozen drug delivery resulting in death cases in recent years to stem drug trafficking.

We've had about a half-dozen where weve filed the charges andpassed it off to the federal government because they have even stricter sentences than we do," Lozier said.

Criscis trial began Tuesday and is expected to conclude Friday.

Read this article:
Drug delivery death trial begins in Beaver County - The Times

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