SMETHPORT — The second of three people charged in the 2015 overdose death of a Bradford man was sentenced Thursday in McKean County Court.

Rachel L. Reid, 29, of Bradford, was one of three people charged in the 2015 death of 25-year-old George Duke Jr. of Bradford.

President Judge John Pavlock sentenced Reid to one to two years in state prison with credit for 51 days of time served. She will serve the sentence consecutive to any other active sentences.

Restitution was set at $12,010, and she is to undergo drug & alcohol and mental health evaluations. Reid is not allowed to have contact with the victims, witnesses or codefendants.

Reid pleaded guilty Sept. 6 to charges of conspiracy to distribute a designer drug and possession with the intent to deliver a controlled substance, both felonies; and recklessly endangering another person, a second-degree misdemeanor.

One codefendant, James A. Luper Jr., 45, pleaded guilty in August and is serving 3 ¼ to 6 ½ years in state prison; while the other, Larry W. Shroyer Sr., 47, is awaiting trial. Shroyer also faces a second related case for allegedly hiding from police.

On Sept. 6, District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer explained that Reid was pleading guilty to allegations that between Nov. 5-13, 2015, Reid conspired with Shroyer and Luper to deliver heroin. Also, between Nov. 10-13, 2015, she conspired with Shroyer and Luper to deliver butyryl fentanyl that Luper had packaged for sale. Reid knew the drug was potent when she sold it.

Prior to sentencing, Shaffer read a statement provided by George Duke Jr.’s mother, Lisa Duke. Lisa Duke wrote the statement on behalf of herself, former husband George Duke Sr. and their other son, Grant Duke.

“Drug addiction is a disease,” Lisa Duke wrote. She continued on, describing the impact addiction has on every aspect of one’s life, as well as the community.

In her letter, she noted how, at the time her son died, “butyryl fentanyl was still considered a synthetic or designer drug” — not a controlled substance.

Despite that, it still had a strong impact on the family.

“Her conduct of reckless endangerment caused the death of our son,” Duke wrote. “Your Honor, this conduct is something we can no longer tolerate.”

She described the care the family put into George Duke Jr.’s upbringing, raising him in the Catholic church and providing educational opportunities and family support.

“Sadly, our son Georgie became a drug addict,” she wrote.

After Duke Jr. was clean for some time, “We were very proud of how far he had come but still very concerned.”

Lisa Duke described the effect his death had on the family. They could no longer enjoy activities with him, dream of him marrying, tell him they love him or even hear his voice.

To Pavlock, she wrote that they “rely on you to make the hard decision” when ordering his sentence, saying Reid “must be made accountable.”

After Shaffer finished reading the letter, Pavlock asked her, “Are they opposed to the plea agreement?”

Shaffer said the family was not opposed to the plea agreement.

Reid had been offered a plea agreement calling for a sentence of one to two years in state prison in exchange for her testimony. At the preliminary hearing in December 2017, she provided a candid account of her involvement with the local drug business, as well as that of Luper and Shroyer.

Reid’s attorney, Christopher Martini of St. Marys, said Reid’s probation was recently revoked for court cases in Venango County and she was ordered to serve a “substantial” sentence of 2 ½ to five years in state prison for the revocation.

He asked that Reid be made eligible for both the boot camp and the Recidivism Risk Reduction Incentive program, which provides early release to defendants who complete programs at the prison. He disagreed with the assertion that she was not RRRI eligible.

“My client would like me to advocate for a sentence less than the minimum in this case,” Martini said.

He said Reid “understands that she needs to be punished,” but added that she knows her “assistance was and is needed” to get her codefendants to take responsibility. He added that Reid has been “involved with controlled substances basically all of her life” and is right now “at a crossroads.”

Speaking on her own behalf, Reid said, “I know what I did was wrong.”

She said she has not touched heroin since November 2015 — the month Duke died. Like Duke, she had overdosed on the substance around that time, but she survived.

Duke’s death was hard on Reid, too, because she had known him for a long time.

“Georgie was my friend, too,” she told Pavlock.

Reid was hopeful that she would get into the boot camp program at the prison.

“I know that I need discipline and responsibility in my life,” she explained, saying she was worried that without help, “my fate’s going to be the same (as Duke’s).”

Reid said when she spent time with her family at Christmas, “I felt selfish because I knew he would never be home with his family.”

Pavlock compared the opioid epidemic to a flood in a home.

“It affects everyone in the home,” he said. And even after the flood recedes, it’s “muddy and moldy and there’s danger there.”

A flood has an immediate effect, as well as the aftereffect with the harmful environment, Pavlock explained. “Today we’re here not necessarily to ask why there’s a flood, but to deal with the aftermath.”

Pavlock said he would not order a lower sentence than what was in the plea agreement “based on the harm that was caused,” but he followed the plea because the victims did not oppose it. He made Reid boot camp eligible but not RRRI eligible.

With Luper and Reid both serving their sentences, Shroyer is the only one of the three with a case still pending. No trial date has been set for Shroyer.