Woman Charged After Narberth Man's Overdose Death In Uber Car

NARBERTH, PA — A Philadelphia woman has been arrested and charged in connection with the overdose death of a Narberth man in summer 2020.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Lower Merion Township Police Superintendent Michael J. McGrath Wednesday announced the arrest of Jessica Lopez, 27, of Philadelphia.

Lopze has been charged with drug delivery resulting in death, possession with intent to deliver, person not to possess a firearm, criminal use of a communications facility, recklessly endangering another person, and related charges in connection with the death of Matthew Warren, 33, of Narberth.

Warren overdosed and died in the early evening of June 15, 2020 in an Uber ride-share car in Lower Merion Township.

Police were called to the intersection of St. Asaphs Road and Conshohocken State Road in Bala Cynwyd at about 5:28 p.m. June 15, 2020 after the Uber driver called 911.

There, they found a man, later identified as Warren, dead in the backseat of the Uber car, authorities said.

The driver told police he picked Warren up in Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood and was taking Warren to his Narberth home when he became unresponsive, authorities said.

On Warren's body, police found a cellphone, credit cards, a money clip and seven small plastic baggies, stamped in red with "ROCKY," containing a powdery substance. They also found two empty baggies of the same type and a straw, consistent with being used to snort heroin/fentanyl.

Using Warren's phone, authorities found on the day of his overdose death, Warren made a $90 ATM withdrawal before leaving his home in an Uber at 4:01 p.m.

Authorities said At 4:34 p.m., he was dropped off on East Sterner Street in Philadelphia, a few houses away from Lopez’s residence, at 4:34 p.m.

Lopez texted Warren to meet her outside down the block, authorities said.

In the 15 minutes he was in Kensington, Warren sent money to the CashApp account $cashapp131, and at 4:47 p.m., he was picked up by an Uber on East Sterner Street, authorities said.

They were en route to his Narberth residence when he suffered the fatal overdose, and the driver pulled over and called 911 at 5:28 p.m.

The investigation also found that Warren had previously sent 33 payments totaling about $1,900 to the same CahsApp account from Nov. 20, 2019 through June 15, 2020.

Warren’s history using Uber also revealed multiple trips to East Sterner Street in Philadelphia, authorities said

On July 21, authorities executed a search warrant on Lopez’s residence, where she lived with her 18-month-old son, and her car.

Seized were drug packaging materials and paraphernalia, scales, a loaded .32 caliber Deringer firearm, marijuana, several pills, and her cellphone.

A lab analysis of the substance in the baggies found on Warren at the time of his death determined they contained a combination of caffeine, 4-ANPP, acetylfentanyl, fentanyl, heroin and zylazine. The two empty bags stamped "ROCKY" and the straw were found to contain caffeine and fentanyl in one bag and 4-ANPP, caffeine, fentanyl and heroin in the other bag and the straw.

The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office performed an autopsy on Warren’s body on June 16, 2020, which ruled on Jan. 7, 2021 that the cause of death was a lethal dose of fentanyl.

Lopez was unable to post bail and remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility. Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 5.