‘A few dollars … for human life’: Fentanyl dealer who sold fatal dose sentenced

A Bucks County man will spend at least a decade, and up to 30 years, in state prison for selling the fentanyl that killed a 23-year-old then continuing to sell the powerful opioid painkiller.

William Frank Brennan, 21, of Hilltown Township was “dealing in addiction in death,” Bucks County Judge Wallace H. Bateman Jr. said at Brennan’s sentencing Friday.

Brennan pleaded guilty Nov. 1 to drug delivery resulting in death, drug possession with intent to deliver, involuntary manslaughter and related charges. Bateman imposed consecutive sentences, ordering Brennan to serve seven and a half to 20 years for drug delivery resulting in death followed by two and a half to 10 years for the possession count.

“The impact to families is immeasurable and life-lasting. And for you it was a few dollars in exchange for human life,” Bateman told Brennan, according to a Bucks County District Attorney’s Office news release on the sentencing.

The felony and misdemeanor counts stemmed from two separate cases — one from the November 2017 death of Lukas Titus, 23 of Telford, Montgomery County, and another involving a series of controlled purchases of fentanyl last March and April, the DA’s office said.

Titus was found dead of a fentanyl overdose Nov. 13, 2017, in a vacant lot along the 1500 block of Bethlehem Pike in Hilltown Township, just north of Montgomeryville. Found nearby, the man’s cellphone contained text messages to and from Brennan appearing to arrange a drug transaction, the DA’s office said; the investigation led police to execute a search warrant at Brennan’s home, where a plastic food container was recovered with 14 grams of fentanyl inside.

The judge said he considered in his sentence that Brennan not only sold fentanyl, as opposed to heroin, but did so knowing he was selling the more powerful drug, according to the release.

“At some point you have to sober up and realize, but you didn’t,” Bateman reportedly told Brennan. “You went back to business as usual.”

Assistant District Attorney Ashley Towhey prosecuted the cases, which were investigated by the Hilltown Township and Towamencin police departments.

“This case in particular, and drug delivery resulting in death prosecutions in general send two powerful messages: We will do the work to hold drug dealers accountable for the deaths they cause, and that all victims matter,” District Attorney Matthew Weintraub says in the release.

In a victim impact statement, Veronica Titus said her son had been working on his recovery for 21 months prior to taking his fatal fix.

“It was his choice. No one forced him and we all live with his choice every day,” she said. “But he was a loving young man who got caught up in this horrific epidemic. And with his last choice, he will be accountable for eternity.”

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.