A Guilty Plea Came Wednesday In Connection With the '19 Overdose Death of Willow Grove Man

UPPER MORELAND, PA — A Philadelphia woman has pleaded guilty in connection with her role in the 2019 fatal drug overdose death of an Upper Moreland man, the guilty plea coming just days before she was scheduled to go on trial.

Johneia Marie Garrett, 27, pleaded guilty on Sept. 8, five days before she was scheduled to face a jury for her part in the death of Nicholas Golden in the spring of 2019 from a heroin and fentanyl overdose, according to court records and the victim’s mother.

Garrett had been facing various felony and misdemeanor charges in connection with the death.

Audra Dallatore, Golden’s mother, told Patch that she was pleased Garrett took the guilty plea, even though a conviction at trial could have sent the young woman to prison for between 20 to 40 years.

Instead, Garrett is looking at spending two years in state prison, after which she will be on parole for three years and probation for two years, according to Dallatore.

“What I find interesting is that she [Garrett] cried through the whole thing,” Dallatore said about Wednesday’s court proceeding.

Dallatore called Garrett’s crying “crocodile tears,” saying that Garrett stating she was friends with Golden made things even worse, because all that means is she helped cause the death of her friend as opposed to a total stranger.

“She wanted people to think that she was sorry for what she did, but not once did she say she was sorry,” Dallatore said.

Dallatore said she spoke with Patch because she feels it’s important for society to start holding drug dealers accountable for their actions.

“It’s an epidemic,” she said. “Although treatment needs to be more readily available for people who want it, we need to just start putting away the dealers. I just think it’s good to get the word out.”

Garrett and Golden grew up together in Upper Moreland’s Willow Grove section. The two were classmates at Upper Moreland High School.

Golden was just two months shy of his 26th birthday at the time of his death, Dallatore said.

In court, Garrett said that “Nick was my best friend,” according to Dallatore.

Dallatore said she is pleased that Garrett took the guilty plea, since it at least gives the family some level of justice, even though Garrett will not be behind bars for that long.

During the guilty plea hearing, Dallatore read a prepared statement in court, a copy of which she provided to Patch.

In the statement, Dallatore recounted how she found her son’s lifeless body the morning of April 10, 2019, “a vision that is etched in my mind and will haunt me for the rest of my life.

“As a mother, the first thing you worry about as soon as your child is born is keeping them safe. It’s your top priority, taking precedence over all else,” Dallatore had written in her statement. “The worst case scenario any parent can think of regarding their child is having them die before you. Having to bury your child is a nightmare that keeps every parent up at night.”

Dallatore said her son’s death has created a “wave of pain that has radiated across so many people,” including Golden’s father, sister, fiancé and two young daughters.

“I would like to make it clear, Nick was an addict. He struggled daily to stay sober,” Dallatore said in her statement. “He referred to his addiction as his ‘demon.’ Many nights he would cry and ask, ‘why me,’ and my heart ached for him.”

Dallatore said her son didn’t want to die, and was excited to be a husband and cherished being a father looking forward to a fruitful future with the family he was creating.

Dallatore said she would often have conversations with her son about the potential to get a bad batch of heroin, to which Golden would reply, “don’t worry mom I know where I’m getting it.

“I truly believe that if he knew that night that the heroin he purchased was laced with fentanyl he would have not used and would not have died,” she said in the statement.

Dallatore said she thanked the court for the opportunity to speak about her son, and while the pain would never go away, she looked at Garrett’s guilty plea as allowing a “degree of healing for everyone who was affected by his death.”