Federal Inmate Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Distribute Synthetic Cannabinoids

PITTSBURGH – Quoc Boa Trinh pleaded guilty today to conspiring to distribute Schedule I synthetic cannabinoid controlled substances between 2017 and 2019, United States Attorney Scott W. Brady announced today.

Trinh, age 40, pled guilty before United States District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan. Judge Ranjan scheduled sentencing to occur on July 7, 2020, at 10:00 a.m. Trinh was serving a prior federal prison sentence when he committed the crime to which he pled guilty.

The law provides for a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $2,000,000. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offense and the prior criminal history of the defendant.

Assistant United States Attorney Craig W. Haller is prosecuting this case on behalf of the United States.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, the federal Bureau of Prisons, and the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General led the multi-agency investigation that also included the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Beaver County District Attorney’s Office, the Department of Homeland Security/Homeland Security Investigations, the Pittsburgh Police Department, the United States Marshals Service, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Munhall Police Department, the Robinson Township Police Department, the McKees Rocks Police Department, the Stowe Township Police Department, the Etna Police Department, and the Erie County District Attorney’s Office.

The investigation was funded by the federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Program (OCDETF). The OCDETF program supplies critical federal funding and coordination that allows federal and state agencies to work together to successfully identify, investigate, and prosecute major interstate and international drug trafficking organizations and other criminal enterprises.