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 Brett Trageser, age 29, currently residing in Cumberland County Prison, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on November 7, 2019, to 156 months’ imprisonment followed by five years of supervised release, by Chief United States District Court Judge Christopher C. Conner, for conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl.

According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, Trageser pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent 400 grams or more of fentanyl between October 2015 and May 2017.  Trageser was determined to have distributed between 1.2 and four kilograms of fentanyl pills that were being manufactured by coconspirator Nathan Anthony Ott, age 34, currently incarcerated at the Federal Correction Institution Fort Dix, New Jersey, who was obtaining kilogram quantities of fentanyl and manufacturing the kilograms into pills.

Ott sold the manufactured pills locally in Chambersburg using “runners” and then began selling the pills on-line utilizing the dark web to distribute the manufactured pills throughout the United States and a few foreign countries. Ott would mail the packages from various United States Postal facilities in Chambersburg and surrounding areas.  Ott was sentenced to 210 months’ imprisonment.

The coconspirators received the following sentences for their participation in the conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl:

  • Apollo Ravanna Bey was sentenced to 21 months’ imprisonment;
  • Mike Wood was sentenced to 120 months’ imprisonment;
  • Cindy Jo Wood was sentenced to 48 months’ imprisonment;
  • Justin Chandler was sentenced to 120 months’ imprisonment;
  • Stephanie Holtry was sentenced to 48 months’ imprisonment

The charges stem from an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Safe Streets Task Force, the Franklin County District Attorney’s Office, the Franklin County Drug Task Force, the Chambersburg Police Department, the Shippensburg Police Department and the Pennsylvania State Police.  Assistant United States Attorney Daryl F. Bloom 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.

           

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