Luzerne County Man Sentenced To 12 Years’ Imprisonment For Two Separate Drug Trafficking Charges

SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Jesse Carey, age 33, formerly of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on August 12, 2020, by U.S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion, to 12 years’ imprisonment for two separate drug trafficking crimes committed in Monroe and Luzerne Counties.  

According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, Carey was indicted by a grand jury in 2017, after an incident on August 5, 2017, at the Mount Airy Casino in Monroe County, in which Carey was found in possession of approximately 47 grams of cocaine and 29 individual packets of heroin for further distribution, a scale, and $9,777 in U.S. Currency.  Carey was also indicted for drug trafficking after a separate incident on January 12, 2017, in Plymouth Borough, Luzerne County, in which Carey was arrested and found in possession of 14 grams of cocaine and approximately 80 individual doses of heroin for further distribution, $2,086 in U.S. currency, scales and drug packaging materials.  Carey committed these offenses while on probation for a previous offense he committed in Luzerne County.

The cases were investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Safe Streets Task Force, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, and the Plymouth Borough Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney Robert J. O’Hara prosecuted the cases.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that has been historically successful in bringing together all levels of law enforcement 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 enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce 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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