Monroe County Man Sentenced To 87 Months In Prison On Drug Trafficking And Gun Charges

SCRANTON—The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Laurence Cadogan, age 33, of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on June 18, 2018, by U.S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion to serve 87 months’ imprisonment for heroin trafficking and unlawfully possessing a firearm in furtherance of heroin trafficking.

According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, Cadogan previously pleaded guilty to possessing with intent to distribute between 60 grams and 80 grams of heroin and unlawfully possessing two firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking. The crimes occurred on October 26, 2016, in Tannersville. Police and federal agents seized more than 3,000 bags of heroin and two loaded firearms during the investigation. Cadogan was ordered by Judge Mannion to forfeit the two firearms seized by agents.

Judge Mannion also ordered Cadogan to serve three years on supervised release following his prison sentence.

Cadogan was indicted by a grand jury in February 2017. The charges against Cadogan resulted from an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Stroud Area Regional Police Department. 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 to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who commit heroin related offenses.

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.  Attorney General Jeff Sessions 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. 

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