SCRANTON — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Pennsylvania, Middle), published as received.
SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a Wilkes-Barre man was sentenced yesterday by United States District Judge Malachy E. Mannion, in Scranton, to serve 5 years in prison for possession of a firearm in furtherance of heroin trafficking.
According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, Disean Kendricks, age 26, previously pleaded guilty to the charge of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Kendricks was indicted by a grand jury in June 2015.
The charges stem from an incident in which investigators served a search warrant at a residence located on Sullivan Street in Wilkes-Barre and seized 45 individual retail bags of heroin and two firearms from a bedroom in which Kendricks was sleeping.
The investigation was conducted by the Wilkes-Barre Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert J. O’Hara.
This case was brought as part of the Violent Crime Reduction Partnership (“VCRP”), a district wide initiative to combat the spread of violent crime in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Led by the United States Attorney’s Office, the VCRP consists of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies whose mission is to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who commit violent crimes.
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.
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