Luzerne County Man Sentenced To Five Years In Prison For Distributing Bath Salts

SCRANTON—The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a 35-year-old Kingston resident was sentenced to five years in prison today by U.S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion in Scranton, for his role in a drug conspiracy that distributed alpha-pvp (commonly known as “bath salts”) in 2012-2013 in the Luzerne County area.

According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, the defendant, Frank Brennan, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute alpha-pvp. Brennan admitted to participating in the West Pittston-based drug conspiracy and to distributing a kilogram of alpha-pvp, a controlled substance analogue.

Brennan was indicted by a federal grand jury in Scranton in August 2014, as a result of an investigation by agents of the Department of Homeland Security, the Drug Enforcement Administration, United States Postal Inspectors, the Pennsylvania State Police, and West Pittston Police.

Eleven persons have been charged as participants in the conspiracy which involved wholesale suppliers of alpha-pvp based in Texas, and retail distributors of the drug in Luzerne County. All eleven suspects have entered guilty pleas in the case.

Judge Mannion also ordered Brennan to be placed on three years of supervised release following his prison sentence.  

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

# # #