PITTSBURGH – A Beaver County resident has been sentenced in federal court to 96 months of imprisonment on his conviction of Possession with Intent to Distribute and Distribution of a Substance Containing Detectable Amounts of Heroin, Acetyl Fentanyl, and Fentanyl, Acting United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced today.
United States District Judge William S. Stickman imposed the sentence on Zachary Martin Cymbalak, age 36, of Freedom, Pennsylvania.
According to information presented to the court, on Jan. 6, 2019, law enforcement officer found a deceased individual under circumstances suggesting that the death was caused by an overdose, which was later confirmed by the Beaver County Coroner’s Office. At the location of the death, law enforcement officers found drug paraphernalia and distinctive empty stamp bags. Based on telephone records and other investigative techniques, law enforcement identified Cymbalak as the
likely source of supply of the drugs that caused the death.
Later on Jan. 6, 2019, law enforcement arranged for a confidential informant to purchase controlled substances from the defendant. The stamp bags were the same distinctive stamp bags found at the scene of the death. After the purchase, law enforcement stopped the vehicle in which Cymbalak was a passenger and recovered more of the distinctive stamps bags and the money used in the purchase. Laboratory tests confirmed that the stamp bags purchased from Cymbalak and recovered from Cymbalak’s person contained a combination of heroin, fentanyl, and acetyl fentanyl.
As part of the plea agreement Cymbalak took responsibility for causing the death of the decedent.
Assistant United States Attorney Brendan T. Conway prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
Acting United States Attorney Rivetti commended the Drug Enforcement Administration, along with the Baden and Harmony Township police departments, the Beaver County Coroner’s Office, and the Beaver County District Attorney’s Office Anti-Drug Task Force, for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Cymbalak.