Richland man sentenced to up to 5 years in prison in heroin overdose case
A Richland man pleaded guilty Monday in Allegheny County court to an involuntary manslaughter charge in connection with the 2016 overdose death of a McCandless man.
Robert Keller, 32, was sentenced Monday to between 2½ and 5 years in prison by Common Pleas Judge Thomas Flaherty.
Keller supplied heroin that resulted in the Sept. 11, 2016, overdose death of Clay Richwalls, 44, according to police.
Police said they found four stamp bags of “Space Jam” heroin near Richwalls’ body and reviewed recent activity on his cellphone that ultimately led them to Keller. Text messages show that Richwalls would leave money in a barn on his mother’s property in Richland, and Keller would deliver the drugs there.
The men knew each other because they would hang out at a West Deer salvage yard, police said.
Keller was found guilty in June on a charge of drug delivery resulting in death that was withdrawn in exchange for Keller’s plea to the involuntary manslaughter charge. A jury was unable to reach a verdict on that charge during Keller’s trial in June.
Tom Davidson is a TribLive news editor. He has been a journalist in Western Pennsylvania for more than 25 years. He can be reached at tdavidson@triblive.com.
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