Pittsburgh Man Pleads Guilty to Trafficking Heroin, Possessing Weapon

PITTSBURGH – On April 24, 2017, Corey Cheatom was convicted of conspiring to engage in large-scale heroin trafficking, Acting United States Attorney Soo C. Song announced today.

Cheatom, age 29, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, pled guilty on the first day of trial in the courtroom of United States District Court Judge Nora Barry Fischer. In support of the guilty plea, the prosecution informed Judge Fischer that, for several years leading up to May 2015, Cheatom and co-defendant Lance Gardenhire led a heroin trafficking organization in Western Pennsylvania. The organization was centered in and around the Beltzhoover area of Pittsburgh. Cheatom admitted as part of his guilty plea to being responsible for the distribution of between 10 and 30 kilograms of heroin and for the possession of a dangerous weapon. Also as part of his guilty plea, Cheatom agreed to forfeit his interest in two vehicles, a Mercedes and a Jaguar.

Judge Fischer scheduled sentencing for Corey Cheatom to occur on August 31, 2017, at 1:30 p.m.

Assistant United States Attorneys Rachael L. Dizard and Craig W. Haller prosecuted this case on behalf of the United States.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police led the multi-agency investigation of this case that also included the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Department of Homeland Security/Homeland Security Investigations, the United States Marshals Service, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Scott Township Police Department, the Munhall Police Department, the Baldwin Police Department, and the Pleasant Hills Police Department. 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.