Greensburg man to serve probation, house arrest for overdose of longtime girlfriend

Christopher Showalter told a Westmoreland County judge on Friday he never considered he was about to commit a crime when he delivered two stamp bags of heroin to the Hempfield home of his son’s mother two years ago.

“I loved her and I would never, ever let anything happen to her. I thought I was helping her,” Showalter said just before he was sentenced to serve five years of probation for providing the heroin-laced fentanyl that killed Stephanie Rae Johnson, 34, on March 19, 2019.

“I wish I could do it over again. I am sorry for my poor decision and I am sorry I enabled her when I should have talked with her,” Showalter said.

Showalter, 38, of Greensburg pleaded guilty in January to charges of drug delivery resulting in death and two lesser drug-related offenses.

As part of Showalter’s probation sentence, Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio ordered he serve 12 months of house arrest and perform 100 hours of volunteer work with the recovery program Father’s Heart Ministries in Hempfield, where he was enrolled in a yearlong program after Johnson’s death.

The judge said she imposed a sentence without jail time because she found Showalter to be accountable for his actions, willing to cooperate with police and willing to seek help for his addiction without any promise of a mitigated penalty.

“Honesty and accountability go a long way with me. I don’t think what you did was self-serving in any way,” Bilik-DeFazio said. “To put you back into a situation where you worked so hard I think sets you back, the community back, and your children back.”

Police say Showalter admitted to providing Johnson with two heroin stamp bags marked “American League” prior to her death at her residence on Turnpike Road.

According to court records, Showalter took an investigator to his apartment shortly after Johnson’s death and turned over two unused heroin stamp bags from the same batch he gave Johnson.

Defense attorney Jeffrey Leonard said Showalter and Johnson had been in a relationship for years and had a 12-year-old son as they continued to struggle with addiction.

“They both had multiple in-patient treatment programs and relapses. On this day, it was one addicted person sharing opiates with another addicted person,” Leonard said.

He told the judge that Showalter brought over two bags of heroin to share with Johnson. He used one bag and Johnson consumed half of the other and experienced no apparent difficulties before he left about 90 minutes later. Leonard surmised Johnson used the remaining drugs after Showalter left and died from an overdose.

Showalter faced up to 40 years in prison.

District Attorney John Peck called the Showalter’s conviction “an extremely serious offense” but did not recommend any specific sentence.

“Whatever excuse and reason he offers is no justification for the (death) of the mother of his child,” Peck said.