Four men who were incarcerated at the time of a drug overdose death at the Westmoreland County Prison had varying degrees of memories from that time in September 2023.

Two of the men testified Tuesday that they were treated for drug overdoses before learning Terry L. Brumley Jr., 33, was found dead in his cell the morning of Sept. 28, 2023. Another said he didn’t remember anything leading up to that time and the fourth denied seeing or having any drugs at the Hempfield jail.

None of them directly tied Davi J. Roman, 29, of New Kensington, to the drugs that were brought into the jail.

But Assistant District Attorney Adam Barr argued that prosecutors had presented enough circumstantial evidence during a three-hour preliminary hearing Tuesday that Roman was involved. He also is accused in the fatal drug overdose of his girlfriend Shaunna Thomas, 27, formerly of Jeannette, who died Sept. 26, 2023, at the home where they lived together.

“In this case, you almost have to look at it in reverse,” Barr said. “You have Mr. Roman being the common denominator.”

District Judge Mark Mansour ruled that the charges would be held for further prosecution. Roman was arrested in September on two counts of drug delivery resulting in death and other drug-related offenses. Both victims died from fentanyl intoxication. The charges were filed after testimony before an investigating grand jury.

Westmoreland County Prison Lt. Curtis Tringhese testified Tuesday that he watched surveillance video over multiple days in an effort to determine how the drugs got into the lockup. After getting information that Roman may have been involved, Tringhese said he started focusing the video-watching on Roman’s movements after arriving at the jail at 2 p.m. Sept. 26, 2023.

When New Kensington police responded to the Kenneth Avenue home that morning to investigate Thomas’ death, they learned Roman had a warrant out for his arrest in a 2017 burglary case, testified Detective Sgt. Philip Huth. Roman was uncooperative with police there and with jail guards, according to testimony.

He was patted down at the jail and strip searched before being put on the body scanner. Tringhese said they do not do cavity searches. No contraband was found, he said.

But video of Roman in various cells showed him fidgeting around his groin area, Tringhese testified.

“He poured out a white substance and snorted it,” Tringhese said.

Before being released from the jail about 8 p.m. Sept. 27, 2023, Roman talked and interacted with fellow inmates, some of whom he knew, according to testimony. About 10 p.m., the overdoses started, according to the grand jury presentment.

The inmates who testified Tuesday had been given immunity during the grand jury proceeding that transferred to the preliminary hearing, Barr said. All four had attorneys representing them.

Keith T. Hohman and Tyson Bargerstock both testified they were slipped drugs by another inmate and used them in the cell they shared, resulting in overdoses. Bargerstock testified they got the drugs from their neighbor. Hohman had trouble remembering specifics of what happened and his testimony to the grand jury.

“This stuff happened years ago and I don’t really recall, again, I’m a drug addict,” he said.

Tresean Black said he didn’t have much memory of what happened, his grand jury testimony centered on surveillance videos played for him at that proceeding, not based on his actual experience.

“You’re not going to be able to take me through the events that transpired two years ago,” he said.

Vincent Green said he didn’t see or have any drugs while at the jail. He testified that he exchanged a bar of soap with Roman on a staircase as the suspect was being released.

Public defender Michael Mendicino argued that none of the testimony connected Roman to the drugs Thomas or Brumley used.

“They searched him multiple times at the jail,” he said.

Brumley, who had an Oklahoma address and was known as “TJ” and “Texas” by his fellow inmates, had been held at the jail since Jan. 4, 2023, according to jail records. He pleaded guilty in August 2023 to theft and related charges connected to a van theft and chase in Youngwood and New Stanton. He was sentenced to one and a half years to three years in a state prison, according to court records.

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