LOCK HAVEN - Three teenagers and a juvenile have been charged by city police in the death of a local young man from an apparent overdose of prescription drugs in May.
According to a Clinton County Central District Court schedule, Wade A. Merrill, Nathan J. Tasselli and Joseph M. Dicello III, all 18, have been charged by the Lock Haven Police Department and will be in court today for a first appearance hearing.
A fourth person, a juvenile, also is being processed through the juvenile court system in connection with the case.
The four are accused in the death of Robert "Bobby" Wise, 18, of Woolrich, who died just days before he was to graduate from Central Mountain High School.
Merrill, Tasselli, Dicello and the juvenile were arrested and arraigned Friday, but law enforcement agencies, including the state attorney general's office, which is prosecuting the case, and city police, who arrested the defendants, did not issue any public reports on the arrests.
Merrill faces the most serious charges, including drug delivery resulting in a death, manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and two counts of recklessly endangering another person, according to the court schedule.
Tasselli is charged with conspiracy to manufacture, deliver or possess with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of a small amount of marijuana, use or possession of a controlled substance by a person not registered, and recklessly endangering another person, the schedule reports.
Dicello is charged with possession of a controlled substance by a person not registered, the schedule states.
Lock Haven Police Chief Skip Hocker declined comment Monday, saying only that any additional information will come from the attorney general's office.
All three were arraigned in the office of District Magisterial Judge Joseph Sanders III in Lock Haven.
None were placed in prison, according to the most recent report of the Clinton County Correctional Facility.
Bail was set at $7,500 for Dicello and $150,000 each for Merrill and Tasselli.
Information on the charges the juvenile faces was not made public due to his age.
Reports indicate there will be court proceedings this morning in advance of the defendants' preliminary hearings.
Not long after Wise died and the investigation into his death proceeded, Clinton County District Attorney Michael Salisbury turned the matter over to the state attorney general's office, saying he felt he had a conflict of interest and that it was important and mandatory for the victim's family and for the defendant to have an impartial prosecutor.
Wise was taken to Hershey Medical Center in critical condition after police were called to the 400 block of Bellefonte Avenue in downtown Lock Haven for a report of an unresponsive male.
He was hospitalized for an apparent overdose of prescription drugs and died several days later.
