Monroe County Man Sentenced To 34 Months In Prison For Heroin Trafficking

SCRANTON—The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a 24-year-old Tobyhanna man was sentenced to 34 months in prison today by U.S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion in Scranton, for trafficking in heroin in July-August 2014.

According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, the defendant, Ronald Walker, previously pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute heroin. Agents seized nine bricks of heroin from the defendant’s residence on August 14, 2014, and Walker admitted during his guilty plea to distributing between 40 and 60 grams of heroin in July-August 2014, which is equivalent to approximately 1300 to 2000 bags of heroin.

Walker was indicted by a federal grand jury in Scranton in March 2015, as a result of an investigation by special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), investigators from the Pennsylvania State Police, and Pocono Mountain Regional Police.

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

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

This case was 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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