HARRISBURG — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Pennsylvania, Middle), published as received.

HARRISBURG – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a Harrisburg man has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Harrisburg on multiple firearms charges and charges involving possession and distribution of heroin and crack cocaine.

According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, Michael A. Ridgeway, age 23, of Harrisburg, was charged in a five count indictment with unlawfully possessing with the intent to distribute heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana and oxycodone on three separate occasions from January through June of 2015, and with possessing firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking on two of those occasions. 

The case was investigated by the Harrisburg Office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Harrisburg Police Department. Prosecution of the case has been assigned to Assistant United States Attorney William A. Behe.

Indictments are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.

A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

The maximum penalty under federal law is 20 years of imprisonment on each of the drug counts, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. The maximum penalty for each of the firearms counts is life with a mandatory minimum consecutive sentence of 5 years. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant's educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.

 

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