Judge said Export man's jail sentence is message to drug dealers, community

A Westmoreland County judge said an example needed to be set to highlight the ongoing drug epidemic when he sentenced a former Export man to jail for selling fentanyl-laced heroin to a friend who died of an overdose.

A jury in December acquitted Kelly Ryan Frank, 54, of drug delivery resulting in death in connection with the 2018 fatal overdose of 29-year-old Keith Robert Alexander in Export. The same jury convicted Frank of two drug-related crimes, including one felony count of possession with an intent do delivery a controlled substance.

Prosecutors said Alexander paid Frank $40 for two stamp bags of drugs that he bought from an unidentified man in Pitcairn the night before. Alexander was found dead the next day in his Export apartment. Trial testimony revealed that police found a text message on Alexander’s phone that linked Frank to the deal and that he later confessed to providing the fatal drug dose.

Common Pleas Judge Tim Krieger on Thursday rejected a defense bid to have Frank serve a probation term.

“I don’t see any mitigating facts, and there’s a record here where Mr. Frank knows better,” Krieger said. “I cannot ignore the (drug) problem, and a message has to be sent to Mr. Frank and the community that you can’t do this.”

Frank was ordered to serve 11 1/2 to 23 months in jail, a sentence that started Thursday. Frank had been free on bail since his arrest.

Assistant District Attorney Pete Caravello sought a sentence that carried a minimum of 16 months behind bars, citing Frank’s lengthy criminal record that dated back to 1990.

Frank, who has since moved to Irwin, declined to speak during Thursday’s court hearing.

Defense attorney James Spriestersbach argued against a jail sentence and asked that Alexander’s father not be permitted to testify during the hearing because the drug delivery resulting in death count was no longer part of the criminal case.

The judge allowed Robert Alexander to testify. He said his family continues to struggle with his son’s death and, despite the jury’s verdict, still blamed Frank for the overdose. Alexander’s son was diagnosed with cancer and was dealing with a broken relationship with a girlfriend before his death, his father said.

“When he was at the lowest point of his life, Mr. Frank was a predator to him,” Robert Alexander told the judge.