Martinsville Woman Guilty of Giving Heroin in Fatal Overdoses

A Martinsville woman is facing a lengthy prison sentence after she was found guilty on Friday of distributing the heroin that led to two overdose deaths.

Megan Plank, 23, is facing a sentence of 10 to 20 years when she is sentenced Sept. 13 in Union County Superior Court.

Plank was found guilty after a three-week trial on two counts of strict liability for a drug-induced death and one count of distribution of heroin in connection with the Nov. 13 deaths of Sara Malaker, 18, and Christopher Coppola, 20, at Malaker’s home in Springfield, according to acting Union County Prosecutor Grace Park ,

Plank was found guilty of giving the boyfriend and girlfriend the heroin at a home in Finderne on Nov. 12, 2009.

A day later, the two were found dead in Malaker’s bedroom by Malaker’s mother,  said Assistant Prosecutor Ann Luvera, who prosecuted the case.

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

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 which 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.

Malaker had a pre-existing asthma condition and Coppola had a small amount of prescription drugs and marijuana in his system.

The jury of 11 women and one man deliberated for one day before reaching a verdict, said Luvera.