Schuylkill County Man Sentenced To Eight Years’ Imprisonment For Heroin And Methamphetmine Trafficking

SCRANTON—The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Marquese Whitted, age 33, of Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 96 months’ imprisonment followed by four years on supervised release by Senior U.S. District Court Judge A. Richard Caputo, for participating in a drug trafficking conspiracy that distributed heroin and methamphetamine in the Schuylkill County area in 2016.

According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, Whitted previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute more than 100 grams of heroin and more than 50 grams of methamphetamine. At today’s sentencing hearing, the Court found that Whitted was responsible for 100 grams of heroin (which is equivalent to 4,000 retail bags), and more than 400 grams of methamphetamine. The Court also found that Whitted had created a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury when he used his vehicle to ram a police van and attempted to ram another police van while attempting to flee from police in October 2016.

The matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Pennsylvania State Police, and local police in Schuylkill County. Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

This case was also brought as part of a district wide initiative to combat the nationwide epidemic regarding the use and distribution of heroin.  Led by the United States Attorney’s Office, the Heroin Initiative targets heroin traffickers operating in the Middle District of Pennsylvania and is part of a coordinated effort among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who commit heroin related offenses.