Man Admits He Sold Drugs That Caused Fatal Overdose

A former local resident pleaded guilty in Bucks County court Thursday to selling the drugs that killed a neighbor in 2022.

According to a news release from the Bucks County District Attorney’s office, 39-year-old William Randall Wright of Kutztown was a resident of the Scenic View Apartments off Flint Hill Road in Springfield Township in June 2022 when he sold the drugs on which 62-year-old Steven Newhart fatally overdosed.

“On June 19, 2022, the day after Father’s Day, Springfield Township police responded to a report of a possibly deceased man at the Scenic View Apartments in the 2000 block of Scenic View Lane and found Newhart dead,” the DA’s office said. “An autopsy determined Newhart’s death was accidental, caused by a combination of drugs including cocaine and fentanyl.”

The DA’s office said detectives who investigated the circumstances surrounding Newhart’s death “quickly focused on Wright as a suspect” after learning that he lived across from Newhart and that Newhart had visited him the day before his death.

“A forensic analysis of Newhart’s cell phone revealed numerous drug-related messages between him and a phone number associated with Wright, dating back to 2021,” the release said. “Bucks County Detectives obtained a search warrant for Wright’s cell phone and a forensic examination uncovered more than 150,000 instant messages that referenced drug activity.”

Wright was ultimately charged with selling the drugs that killed Newhart in June 2024.

In court Thursday, he pleaded guilty to drug delivery resulting in death, criminal use of a communication facility and involuntary manslaughter.

Among the victim impact statements the court heard prior to Wright’s sentencing was one from Newhart’s daughter in which she said, “I do not wish this pain on anyone,” the DA’s office said.

Wright was sentenced by Common Pleas Judge Wallace H. Bateman Jr. to four to 15 years in state prison and 12 years of probation.