ENOLA, Pa. — Police have charged a Cumberland County woman with abuse of a corpse and other offenses after she allegedly dragged the body of a man who died of a drug overdose in her apartment into the hallway and left it there.
Jaqueline Tirado, 57, of Enola, was charged by East Pennsboro Police on Wednesday after an investigation launched on January 19, when the victim's body was found in the hallway of her apartment building on the 400 block of South Enola Drive.
According to police, Tirado initially told officers she had allowed the victim into her building prior to his death, but did not let him inside her apartment.
Police executed a search warrant on her home on January 19 and found suspected crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia inside, according to the criminal complaint affidavit.
At that point, TIrado allegedly admitted that she and the victim had smoked crack cocaine around midnight. The victim allegedly went to bed for the night, and was dead when Tirado tried to wake him. Tirado allegedly admitted to dragging the victim's body into the hallway outside her apartment and asking the neighbors to call police.
Tirado told police she was afraid she'd get in trouble with the building's owner if someone died inside her apartment, the complaint states.
In addition to a misdemeanor count of abuse of a corpse, Tirado is charged with misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.
A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for June 12, according to court records.
