Two Individuals Sentenced For Drug Trafficking

SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that on July 24, 2018, United States District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion sentenced William Waring and Tanay Jones, both of Bronx, New York, for conspiring to distribute heroin, crack cocaine, and fentanyl.  Waring, age 27, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and four years of supervised release following that sentence of imprisonment.  Jones, age 26, received a time served sentence of approximately one month, and three years of supervised release.

According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, Waring and Jones both pled guilty to conspiring to distribute controlled substances in Pennsylvania between approximately July 2016 through February 2017.  Waring admitted to working as a drug dealer in the conspiracy, and that he trafficked in excess of 60 grams of crack cocaine and in excess of 100 grams of heroin, the latter of which is the equivalent of 4,000 potentially fatal doses of heroin.  Jones admitted that she served as a drug courier in the conspiracy, transporting narcotics from New York to Pennsylvania by secreting them in her body cavities.  She admitted to trafficking in excess of 28 grams of crack cocaine and in excess of 100 grams of heroin, the latter of which again is the equivalent of 4,000 potentially fatal doses of heroin.

Waring and Jones were charged in June 2017 with 13 other individuals.  All of their co-defendants have pleaded guilty, with three others having already been sentenced:

• Kassandra Martin of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 60 months of imprisonment;
• Joshua Lenchick of Luzerne, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 60 months of imprisonment; and
• Kristyna Shotwell of Plymouth, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 12 months and one day of imprisonment.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Kingston Police Department, and the Luzerne County Drug Task Force.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip J. Caraballo prosecuted the case.

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.

This case also 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.

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