Man Pleads Guilty In Connection With Montco Woman's Fatal Overdose

COLLEGEVILLE, PA — A local man has admitted to his role in the fatal overdose death of a Montgomery County woman in the spring of 2021.

Ryan Noonan, 25, of Collegeville, has pleaded guilty to charges connected to the May 7, 2021, death of Valerie Gervasi, 21, an Upper Merion Township woman who died as a result of a fentanyl overdose.

Records show that Noon entered his guilty plea on Aug. 16 before Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Thomas Rogers.

He pleaded guilty to a felony count of drug delivery and a misdemeanor charge of involuntary manslaughter, according to the court docket sheet in the case.

The Mercury newspaper reported that Noonan and a second man, 21-year-old Isaiah Strickland of Norristown, were connected to Gervasi's death; Strickland is accused of supplying the fentanyl to Noonan, with Noonan turning around and passing along the drug to Gervasi.

Strickland has been charged but is still awaiting court action on his case.

Court records in Noonan's case show that prosecutors originally filed a first-degree felony charge of drug delivery resulting in death, but that the charge was subsequently changed to involuntary manslaughter instead.

The Mercury story says that police went to check on Gervasi at her Upper Merion apartment on the day of her death after family members reported not having heard from her in a while.

During that welfare check in May 2021, officers found Gervasi dead in her living room with evidence of drug use nearby, according to the story.

Records show that the judge has deferred scheduling sentencing pending the results of a court investigation on Noonan.

Noonan appears to currently be housed at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.

Records show that Noonan is being represented by Plymouth Meeting-based attorney William C. Denardo.