Former Employee of Allegheny County Drug Laboratory Sentenced to Prison for Stealing Drug Evidence

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – A resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was sentenced in federal court for stealing federal drug evidence, United States Attorney Scott W. Brady announced today.

United States District Judge Mark R. Hornak sentenced Matthew Ieraci, 30, to 60 days of imprisonment following his guilty plea on July 25, 2018, to one count of theft concerning a program receiving federal funds.

In connection with his guilty plea, Ieraci admitted that from February 8, 2017, and continuing until February 27, 2017, he stole a total of approximately 52.45 grams of powder alprazolam, a Schedule IV controlled substance, from the Allegheny County Office of the Medical Examiner (ACOME), where he was employed as a laboratory scientist. Ieraci further admitted he stole the evidence from a larger quantity of alprazolam that the United States Postal Inspection Service had submitted to ACOME for chemical analysis in connection with an ongoing multi-jurisdiction, multi-agency federal drug-trafficking investigation. Ieraci was assigned to analyze the evidence on behalf of ACOME. The defendant also admitted that he had been trained in proper evidence-handling techniques and was aware of the consequences of evidence tampering, including the possibility that such evidence would not be admissible at trial.

Assistant United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government. The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation of Ieraci.