38 Charged In Three Separate Drug Trafficking Conspiracies
PITTSBURGH, PA - Thirty-eight individuals have been charged in three separate indictments with violating federal narcotics trafficking and firearms laws, United States Attorney in the Western District of Pennsylvania David J. Hickton and other federal law enforcement officials announced today.
“We want to advise violent criminals who tyrannize the neighborhoods and towns in our District that we know who you are; we are coming for you and it is only a matter of when not if we catch you and disrupt and prosecute your criminal activity,” said U.S. Attorney Hickton.
In a five-count indictment returned on February 15, 2011 and unsealed today, 11 Allegheny County, Pennsylvania residents, including Harold Bacon and Denorris Mahone III, were charged with various drug and gun law violations. According to the indictment, from January 2010 to February 2011, in the Western District of Pennsylvania and elsewhere, the defendants conspired to distribute and possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin. In addition, the indictment charges Bacon and Mahone, III with distributing and/or possessing heroin with intent to distribute it. The indictment also charges Bacon with possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
In the second indictment released, 19 Allegheny County residents and one resident of Wilmington, Delaware were indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh for violating federal narcotics trafficking and firearms laws. The 16-count indictment returned on February 15, 2011 charges 17 of the 20 defendants conspired to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin. In addition, the indictment charges Chawna Manghan of Pittsburgh, PA with maintaining a drug-involved premises, and Jeremiah Manghan, Marcus Williams, Devon Baskin, Deron Nixon, Randale Chapman, Keenan Black, and Sondra Hunter with distributing and/or possessing heroin with intent to distribute. All individuals are residents of Allegheny County except Keenan Black who lives in Wilmington, Delaware.
Finally, in a third indictment, eight residents of Pennsylvania and one resident of Farmington Hills, Michigan have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on a charge of violating federal drug laws, announced United States Attorney Hickton. According to the indictment, from on or about June 9, 2009 and continuing thereafter to in and around February 2011, James Theodore Green, aka Stacks, of Penn Hills, PA, and others, conspired to distribute and possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin.
“The people that sold these drugs have no regard for the end user. They don’t care if people spend their last penny buying these drugs. They don’t care if these individuals overdose and die from using these drugs. It is all about the greed of these drug dealers that sustain their involvement in these illegal activities,” said Gary M. Davis Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Pittsburgh District Office of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The three indictments unsealed today were the result of the collaborative efforts of the Drug Enforcement Administration, The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Pittsburgh Police Department, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Allegheny County Sherriff’s Office, the Ross Township Police Department, the Canonsburg Police Department, the Allegheny County Police Department, and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation.
An indictment or information is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
