HOLLIDAYSBURG — A Tyrone man linked to two heroin overdose deaths, including one that killed his best friend, was sentenced Friday to 15 years of probation.

Christopher Tremmel cried in Blair County Court upon seeing photos of Gregory Lynam of Altoona, who died of a fatal heroin overdose in March 2017.

After sentencing, Tremmel hugged the family members of Joshua Blowers of Tyrone, his longtime friend who died of an overdose in May 2018.

“It’s a miracle, a miracle that I’m being given this chance,” Tremmel said of the sentence President Judge Elizabeth Doyle imposed at the end of a lengthy hearing with testimony on how Tremmel’s life has changed.

When Tremmel was arrested in August 2017 and charged with drug delivery resulting in Lynam’s death, he admitted to police that he had been selling heroin since 2013 for Alexsi Lopez, a Brooklyn, N.Y., native.

Released on unsecured bail, Tremmel remained free until November 2017 when he was arrested and charged with evidence tampering and obstructing justice in connection with Blowers’ fatal overdose.

Police said Tremmel took Blowers’ cellphone the day he died, then broke the phone in half and threw it in the Little Juniata River.

“I’ve watched Chris struggle with addiction for several years,” Tremmel’s brother, John Givler, told Doyle during the sentencing hearing.

During those years, Givler said his brother couldn’t retain a job and at one time, his brother lived in a Baltimore motel with other drug addicts.

But after Tremmel’s last effort to “get clean” and after the birth of his first child, Givler said his brother changed.

“I’ve watched him turn into a man who I’m proud to have as a brother,” Givler said. “He’s dependable, a good family member and he’s active in his church. That doesn’t excuse his past behavior, but I’m just proud of the man he has become.”

Heather Johnson, Joshua Blowers’ sister, also spoke on behalf of Tremmel and called him her brother’s best friend. She said they grew up together, and long before drugs, they cared about each other.

“Seeing Chris healthy and sober, it helps heal my heart,” Johnson told the judge.

Michelle Lynam of Altoona provided photographs of her son, Greg, who was 29 when he died from an overdose of fentanyl-laced heroin.

“My wish for Mr. Tremmel is that he makes peace with his past mistakes,” she said.

Police named Lopez as the supplier who sold to Tremmel, who sold to Adam Culp and who sold to Lynam. Lopez is currently serving 12 to 30 years in prison and Culp was directed to the state’s Intermediate Punishment Program, which mixes drug treatment and incarceration.

Tremmel started crying while looking at the photos of Lynam presented on a cellphone. The photos were to be displayed on a screen in the courtroom but technology problems prevented the presentation.

“It broke me,” Tremmel said as he looked toward Michelle Lynam. “I understand what I’ve done.”

Tremmel also apologized.

“I’m deeply sorry for the role I played in the loss of your son’s life,” he said.

District Attorney Pete Weeks, who commended Tremmel for his efforts to become sober and to maintain sobriety, proposed a sentence that would include incarceration. He suggested Doyle hand down a sentence giving Tremmel the opportunity to participate in a state prison drug treatment program.

Defense attorney Thomas M. Dickey countered that Tremmel has already reached sobriety and found reasons to maintain it.

“He’s the poster child of any defendant I could have,” Dickey said, claiming that incarceration will take him away from his fiancee and their two children, and force him to give up his work as an electrician.

Doyle, when evaluating the options, told the 35-year-old Tremmel that a probationary sentence of 15 years gives his children a chance to grow up with a father.

It also creates great risk, she cautioned, because failure to comply with probationary rules will bring him back to court for resentencing and likely incarceration.

Doyle said she recognized Tremmel’s expression of remorse as genuine and commended his desire to follow in Michelle Lynam’s footsteps by trying to help others avoid illegal drug use and to deal with drug addictions.

“You never stop being a drug addict,” Doyle said.

“It’s a life sentence,” Tremmel told her.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.