Three men were sentenced to state prison earlier this week for supplying a pressed fentanyl pill that was made to look like Percocet that killed Amanda Shields, of Falls Township, two years ago.
Ryan Shields, the victim’s husband, was sentenced to 4 to 8 years in prison; Patric Hish, 33, of Brookhaven, Delaware County, was sentenced to 3 to 6 years in state prison; and Francis Nungesser, 44, of Morrisville, received a state prison sentence of 5 and a half to 12 years by Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey L. Finley.
All three pleaded guilty in August to one count each of drug delivery resulting in death. A lengthy investigation by Bucks County Detectives and Falls Township Police concluded that the victim’s husband supplied the pill to her, and he got the pills from the two other men, leading to charges in January.
The investigation began after Falls Township Police were dispatched on the night of Aug. 11, 2020, to a home in the 800 block of Trenton Road, where the Shields’ lived. There, they discovered that Amanda, 40, had died after taking what she thought was a Percocet pill. The investigation found that the pill was actually fentanyl disguised as a Percocet pill, and an autopsy determined her cause of death was fentanyl, ethanol and alprazolam toxicity.
Prior to his wife’s death, Ryan, 40, was delivered 10 suspected fentanyl pills from his supplier Hish, who was living in Yardley at the time. Hish received them from his supplier Nungesser.
During the investigation, detectives spoke to a man who bought two of the pills from Ryan on Aug. 11, 2020, and after taking half a pill, got a very strong high and “believed he was going to die from ingesting the pill.” He told detectives the pill had the same shape, size and color of a 30mg Percocet pill. Further investigation found that Ryan had provided the pills to his wife in the past.
