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Press Release

Berks County Man Sentenced To 75 Months In Prison For Drug Trafficking

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Pennsylvania

HARRISBURG- The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a 36-year-old Reading man was sentenced to 75 months in prison today by U.S. District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani in Scranton, for his role in a large-scale drug trafficking conspiracy that operated in Monroe and Berks Counties.

According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, the defendant, Donald Patnelli, Jr., previously pleaded guilty to participating in the drug conspiracy responsible for distributing over one kilogram of heroin, more than 280 grams of crack cocaine, and other drugs from 2010 to 2013.

Patnelli was indicted by a grand jury in June 2013, as a result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, and the Berks County District Attorney’s Office.

Judge Mariani also ordered that Patnelli serve five years on supervised release following his prison sentence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa prosecuted the case.      

          

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Updated April 28, 2015