district attorney

Wampum Resident Indicted for Producing and Possessing Child Sexual Abuse Material

PITTSBURGH – A resident of Wampum, Pennsylvania, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges of Production of Material Depicting the Sexual Exploitation of a Minor and Possession of Material Depicting the Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced today. The three-count Indictment named Thomas Hyatt-Baney, 21, formerly of Wampum, Pennsylvania, as the sole defendant. According to the Indictment, Hyatt-Baney, on or about May 28, 2023, and June 25, 2023, produced visual depictions of the sexual exploitation of a minor. The Indictment also charges Hyatt-Baney with possessing, on or about September…


Butler County Man Pleads Guilty to Possessing Multiple Bricks of Fentanyl

PITTSBURGH, PA – A resident of Butler, Pennsylvania, has pled guilty on a charge of possessing 10 grams or more of a mixture containing fluorofentanyl and fentanyl, United States Attorney Cindy K. Chung announced this week. Gerry Lee Kendall, age 41, pleaded guilty before Senior District Court Judge Arthur J. Schwab. In connection with the guilty plea, the court was advised that on June 6, 2021, an officer with the Duquesne Police Department observed Gerry Lee Kendall exit Truman Towers, a known high-drug trafficking area. The officer observed Kendall enter the front passenger seat of a parked vehicle, which then…


Three Lawrence County Men Among Seven Charged With Drug Trafficking Conspiracy

PITTSBURGH – Eliot Gentry, Daivahn Brown, Donald Jeter, William McCree, Teqwan Scott, Donald Snowden, and Kailin Stewart have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh for narcotics trafficking, United States Attorney Cindy K. Chung announced today. The Indictment, returned on Oct. 11 and yesterday, charges the seven defendants with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute and distribute at least 100 grams of fluorofentanyl, 40 grams of fentanyl, five kilograms of cocaine, 28 grams of cocaine base, and a quantity of methamphetamine, from May 2021 to October 2022. Gentry, age 25; McCree, age 19; and Scott, age 28…


Florida Businessman Pleads Guilty in $100M Health Care Fraud Scheme Involving Ellwood City Medical Center

PITTSBURGH – A resident of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, pleaded guilty in federal court to three counts of conspiracy related to the submission of fraudulent health care claims, United States Attorney Cindy K. Chung announced today. Daniel Hurt, 58, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, pay and receive unlawful kickbacks, and commit money laundering, as charged in a criminal Information filed in the Western District of Pennsylvania on July 26, 2022; one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, as charged in a criminal Information filed in the District of New Jersey on August…


Former Wampum Man Pleads to Violating Federal Drug and Gun Laws

A former Wampum resident pleaded guilty in federal court to violating the federal narcotics and firearms laws, United States Attorney Cindy K. Chung announced this week. Michael Turner, 49, formerly of Wampum, PA, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon before United States District Judge Stephanie L. Haines. In connection with the guilty plea, the court was advised that beginning in 2019, agents with the FBI and other agencies investigated drug trafficking activity in Pittsburgh’s Hill District neighborhood, and elsewhere. As part of that investigation, agents…


Lawrence County Woman Sentenced For Involvement In Capitol Riot

NOTE: The following article originally appeared on www.businessinsider.com A Pennsylvania woman who initially lied to investigators about her role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot was sentenced to one year of probation and a $2,000 fine at a Tuesday hearing. Julia Sizer pleaded guilty to one count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building in November. The nail technician initially faced four charges stemming from her role in the insurrection, including knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building. But as the government works to prosecute more than 760 people…


POLICE: Weekly Police Blotter

Lawrence County Man Sentenced for Fentanyl Conspiracy and Fraud PITTSBURGH, PA – A resident of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to time served to be followed by a 6-year term of supervised release on his conviction for distributing fentanyl, conspiring to possess with intent to distribute and distribute fentanyl, and conspiring to commit an offense (mail fraud) against the United States, United States Attorney Cindy K. Chung announced today. United States District Judge Arthur J. Schwab imposed the sentence on Jerell Huddleston, 31. According to information presented to the court, Huddleston conspired to distribute and possess…


Former New Castle Anesthesiologist Sentenced for Illegal Prescriptions and Distributing

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – A resident of New Castle, Pennsylvania, was sentenced in federal court for unlawfully prescribing and distributing controlled substances, Acting United States Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman announced today. United States District Judge David S. Cercone, sentenced Thomas Ranieri, 68, to two years of supervised release, with the first year served as home detention. During his plea hearing on August 21, 2019, the defendant admitted that he previously was a physician who practiced as an anesthesiologist and pain-management specialist in clinics located in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and multiple locations in Ohio. From January 2, 2013, to June 26, 2013,…


Operation On My Way Out Nets Drug Arrest

According to a Lawrence County District Attorney’s Office social media post, Operation On My Way Out netted an arrest in New Castle last week. On Thursday, August 19, 2021, Detectives from the District Attorney’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU), New Castle City Police Narcotics, and the Office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General executed a search warrant at 726 Hazen Street in the City of New Castle. Detectives had an active felony arrest warrant for the resident of the house, David Querriera, and waited until he was exiting his residence before they took him into custody. The search incident to his arrest…


Ellwood City Man Among Two County Residents Indicted on Child Sexual Exploitation Charges

PITTSBURGH, PA – Two Lawrence County residents have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges of attempted production, production, receipt, and distribution of material depicting the sexual exploitation of a child, Acting United States Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman announced today. The three-count Indictment named David Bates, 61, of Ellwood City, PA 16117, and Tamara Kreitzer, 33, of New Castle, PA 16101, as defendants. According to the Indictment, in or between July 2020 and October 2020, Bates and Kreitzer attempted to and did use, persuade, induce entice and coerce a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct…