Guilty plea entered in Greensburg woman's fatal overdose

An Allegheny County woman pleaded guilty to supplying the fatal dose of heroin used in the overdose of a Greensburg woman in May 2019.

Britnee R. Clark, 41, of Avalon was one of three people charged in connection with the death of 59-year-old Roxanne Gongaware, whose body along with drug paraphernalia were found in the living room of her Harrison Avenue home nearly three years ago.

Clark pleaded guilty to charges of drug delivery resulting in death, a separate drug offense and conspiracy. She faces up to 20 years in prison when sentenced later this year.

Police said Clark, who was arrested months later in Georgia, served as a primary source for the fentanyl-laced heroin that caused Gongaware’s death.

According to court records, evidence found on Gongaware’s cellphone included a series of text messages with a friend about the purchase of drugs.

Police said that friend, Janae M. Brown, 43, of Scottdale and another friend, Marcia Lynn Shearer, 62, of Connellsville, drove out to Avalon to meet with Clark, Shearer’s niece, who arranged the purchase of drugs from an unidentified man in McKees Rocks. Brown brought six bags of the heroin to Gongaware, police said.

Clark admitted her role in the drug purchase.

“I want to take responsibility for my involvement and see it as essential to my recovery and for my future,” Clark wrote in a guilty plea petition filed with the court.

Clark will remain free on $10,000 bail pending her sentencing hearing.

Shearer and Brown are awaiting trial on identical charges. Both are free on $25,000 unsecured bonds. Their trial is tentatively scheduled to begin in April.