Crime & Safety

Bridgewater Woman Gets 5 Years in Springfield Drug-Related Deaths

Megan Plank, 23, of Martinsville, convicted of selling lethal doses of heroin, remains free on bail pending appeal.

A Bridgewater woman convicted of selling lethal doses of heroin to a couple who died in Springfield in 2009 received a five-year prison sentence Friday but is free on bail pending an appeal, according to NJ.com. 

Megan Plank, 23, was convicted in July on two counts of the first-degree crime of strict liability for a drug-induced death of Christopher Coppola, 20, of Bridgewater and his girlfriend, Sara Malaker, 18, of Springfield. The two took the drugs together in the Springfield home of Malaker's mother and were found dead there the following day.

Rather than sentencing Plank for first-degree offenses, which impose 10- to 20-year prison terms, Superior Court Judge Stuart Peim treated them as second-degree crimes, imposing the minimum five-year term, according to Plank's attorney, Marcy McMann, according to the report.

During the three-week jury trial, which took place in June and July, testimony from witnesses, who shared text messages and phone calls between Plank and the couple, was included. 

Throughout the trial, Plank denied that she sold the heroin and claimed the victims’ deaths could not be definitively attributed to the heroin.


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