Miller

PHILIPPI — A Barbour County woman faces multiple felony charges and a $200,000 cash bond after allegedly supplying the drugs that lead to an overdose death.

Tiara Marie Miller, 33 is charged with one count of drug delivery resulting in death, one count of failure to render aid, one count of conspiracy and one count of child neglect creating risk of injury, all felonies. She is currently being held at the Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a $200,000 cash-only bond.

According to the criminal complaints, filed by Cpl. C. Parks with the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office, on March 23 around 8:25 p.m., officers were made aware of an overdose that occurred on Spall Lick Road in Philippi. 

A man was pronounced dead at Broaddus Hospital and a woman was unconscious when she arrived at the hospital, the complaint states. At the time of the overdose, the man and woman’s child was inside the residence under their supervision. Officers familiar with the couple knew they had a juvenile child and that the child was not brought with them to the hospital.

Officers went to the residence on Spall Lick Road to try and locate the child, the complaint states. Upon arrival, Parks observed the front door of the residence was “wide open.” Due to the child being missing and the front door being open, Parks conducted a safety check on the residence in an attempt to find the child.

Inside the residence, Parks observed a hat and a butane torch on the living room floor, the complaint states. He was not able to find the child at this time. Deputy Elbon with the Barbour County Sheriff’s Office located a bag of suspected methamphetamine that weighed approximately 10.5 grams. The bag was laying in the driveway directly in front of the porch stairs.

Park received a search warrant for the residence and during the execution of the warrant, located two bags of suspected marijuana, one glass smoking device used for ingesting methamphetamine, a substance on a glass dinner plate suspected to be methamphetamine located on the child’s headboard and a “white powdery substance suspected to be methamphetamine” located on the dining room table.

When the man and woman overdosed, it left the child unsupervised, the complaint states. Camera footage from Broaddus Hospital showed a vehicle registered to Miller being operated by Jeremy Tacy. Tacy was identified from the footage and by hospital staff who knew him from prior encounters. 

According to the complaint, Tacy allegedly brought the man and woman to the hospital and then dropped the child off with one of his relatives in Belington. Officers confirmed the child’s location and had EMS bring the child to Broaddus Hospital for a check-up.

After medical treatment, the woman was semi-conscious and allegedly told police that Miller had brought the controlled substances/narcotics to the residence on Spall Lick Road, the complaint states. The woman reportedly said that Miller provided the drugs to her and the deceased man.

On March 24, at approximately 3:55 p.m., Deputy Cale and Parks spoke with a witness who also allegedly stated that Miller had provided the drugs, the complaint states. The witness reportedly told officers that Miller said the substance was cocaine, and the woman and the deceased man had ingested the substance.

On March 27, Cale and Parks spoke with Miller, who said that she was in the back seat holding the child while Tacy was driving to the hospital, the complaint states. Miller allegedly told police that Tacy drove past the hospital to drop Miller off and to take the controlled substances off the deceased man’s body.

After Tacy pulled in at the hospital, camera footage shows Tacy “frantically rummaging through (the overdosed man’s) pockets of his pants and removing his boots as if he was looking for something,” the complaint states. The footage then shows Tacy “place the items he obtained … into the front passenger door of the vehicle.”

Tacy allegedly told officers he had taken five or six bags of drugs from the overdosed man’s person and residence, the complaint states. He told police he burned and destroyed all of the bags except one, which he hid in the woods “so it couldn’t be located.” Tacy told police where the bag could be found, and an officer then recovered it at that location. The bag of controlled substances weighed approximately 5.12 grams.

Tacy, 29, of Belington, is charged with child neglect creating risk of injury and conspiracy. He is being held in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail on an $80,000 cash bond.

Both Miller and the witness told police that they had all smoked methamphetamine with the deceased man and the woman before the couple ingested the “cocaine” Miller provided, the complaint states.

On April 2, at approximately 11 a.m., Cale interviewed the woman via a Microsoft Teams meeting at Harmony Ridge Recovery Center, the complaint states. The woman told Cale that the witness and Miller arrived at the Spall Lick Road residence because she owed them money for purchasing a dog kennel. The woman allegedly stated that Miller told them “I got a line of coke. Do you guys want to do it?” After the woman and the deceased man ingested the “cocaine,” she stated that she felt lightheaded.

The woman advised Cale that Miller allegedly had “a big bag of methamphetamine, big bag of crack cocaine and cocaine” in her purse, the complaint states. Parks writes that “it is evident” that Miller delivered the controlled substance/narcotic that led to the death of the man and the hospitalization of the woman, “causing serious bodily injury.”