Clarion woman sentenced for role in man’s OD death

From staff reports

A Clarion woman was sentenced Friday in Clarion County court to 9 to 18 years in prison for her role in delivering fentanyl to a man who later died of an overdose.

Judge Paul Millin handed down the sentence to Elva Marie Warner-Confer, 42. She was found guilty earlier this month by a Clarion County jury of drug delivery resulting in death a first-degree felony, and related offenses.

Warner-Confer was charged last year by Pennsylvania State Police and the Office of Attorney General after Donald Leroy Brown, 35, was found dead in his Clarion home in 2016.

“If you sell drugs and someone dies as a result, you’re facing a felony and jail,” state Attorney General Josh Shapiro said Friday as he announced the sentence. “We’re using every tool at our disposal to hold drug dealers accountable for the devastation they’re causing in communities across Pennsylvania. That includes this charge of drug delivery resulting in death.”

In the days before Brown died, he called Warner-Confer and told her he needed fentanyl. The day before Brown died, Warner-Confer provided Brown with three fentanyl patches that she had bought from another woman, Jennifer Best.

Best pleaded guilty June 20 to delivering fentanyl and will be sentenced Aug.1.

The case was prosecuted by Senior Deputy Attorney General Marnie Sheehan-Balchon and Clarion County District Attorney Mark Aaron.

Aaron had previously said that “the opioid painkiller involved in this case is one of the most powerful ever made available by prescription.”