Wilkes-Barre Man Sentenced To 11 Years’ Imprisonment For Drug Trafficking And Firearms Charges

SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that James Hughes, age 33, of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on March 7, 2022, to 132 months’ imprisonment to be followed by four years on supervised release by U.S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion on drug trafficking and firearms charges.

According to United States Attorney John C. Gurganus, Hughes possessed with the intent to distribute over 200 grams of methamphetamine and over 40 grams of fentanyl on May 12, 2021, at a hotel in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Hughes possessed a .40 caliber Smith and Wesson handgun and ammunition in furtherance of his drug trafficking activities and he was a person prohibited from possessing a firearm as a previously convicted felon.

This case was also part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of

this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Pennsylvania State Police and the Wilkes-Barre City Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenny P. Roberts prosecuted the case.

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