Woman Convicted in Heroin-Induced Deaths in Springfield

A Martinsville woman could face up to 40 years in prison after she was found guilty Friday of causing the 2009 drug-induced deaths of a couple in Springfield, Acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park said.

Megan Plank, 23, was convicted of two counts of strict liability for selling lethal doses of heroin to Christopher Coppola, 20, of Bridgewater, and his girlfriend Sara Malaker, 18, of Springfield, which the couple took together in Malaker's home, according to a press release from Park's office.

The three-week jury trial included testimony from witnesses who shared text messages and phone calls between Plank and the couple, which led Coppola and Malaker to Plank's home, where the drugs were purchased on Nov. 12, 2009, Assistant Prosecutor Ann Luvera, who prosecuted the case, stated in the release.

The couple was found by Malaker's mother the following day, in her home, the release stated.

The exchanged texts on Malaker's phone were able to be retrieved and traced by detectives. Though Plank admitted meeting with the couple, she stated that it was only to sell them marijuana, not heroin, according to the prosecutor's office.

A day after the couple purchased the heroin from Plank, they were found dead in Malaker’s bedroom by her mother, Luvera said.

Authorities retrieved Malaker’s cell phone from her bed, where they found a series of text messages between she and Plank, Luvera said.

In those messages, Plank directed the victims to a house in Finderne, where the transaction took place.

Although the text messages did not explicitly refer to the sale of heroin, it was clear that a drug transaction was to take place, Luvera said.

Plank and Coppola had gone to Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School and community college together.

After a 10-month investigation by Lt. Dean Marcantonio of the Union County Homicide Task Force, Plank was arrested on September 29, 2010.

During the trial, the jury heard testimony from experts about the text messages as well as phone calls between Plank and the victims, according to Luvera.

Union County Medical Examiner Dr. Junaid Shaikh testified as well as a toxicologist from NMS Labs in Pennsylvania.

In addition, Marcantonio took two recorded statements from Plank that were played for the jury. In her first statement, Plank denied seeing the victims in the months preceding their death. When initially confronted with the text messages, Plank denied being the sender, authorities said.

After her arrest, Plank acknowledged meeting with the victims but denied giving them the heroin. Plank claimed that the meeting was for the purpose of selling marijuana, authorities said.

During the trial, Plank continued to deny that she was the seller of the heroin and claimed the victims’ death could not be definitively attributed to the heroin.