Wilmerding man caught with backpack filled with heroin/fentanyl mix pleads guilty to federal drug charge

A Wilmerding man has pleaded guilty to a federal drug charge after getting caught with a backpack filled with nearly 400 grams of heroin and fentanyl, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

Rondell Lawrence, 29, was convicted on one count of possession with intent to distribute more than 40 grams of fentanyl, U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady said.

According to investigators, on July 10, 2017, Lawrence drove to the Greyhound bus station in Downtown Pittsburgh with Ronnell Lawrence, his brother and codefendant in the case.

His brother boarded a bus headed to New York City, then spent only one hour there before returning to Pittsburgh, prosecutors said.

When Rondell Lawrence picked his brother up from the station the next day, investigators said they saw Ronnell Lawrence put a large camouflage-patterned backpack into Rondell Lawrence’s Nissan Pathfinder.

Investigators stopped the car a short time later for an expired registration.

They searched the vehicle. Inside the backpack, they found one ticket to New York and eight bundles of what investigators believed to be heroin and fentanyl — which lab tests later confirmed.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid painkiller that can be 50 to 100 times stronger than heroin; as little as 2 or 3 nanograms per milliliter of blood of fentanyl can be deadly.

The heroin/fentanyl mixture found inside the backpack in Rondell Lawrence’s car totaled about 390 grams.

If convicted, Rondell Lawrence could face a sentence of not less than five years and up to 40 years in federal prison and a fine up to $5 million.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy M. Lanni prosecuted the case with help from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office and police from Pittsburgh and North Versailles.

U.S. District Judge David Cercone scheduled a sentencing for Dec. 6.

Rondell Lawrence will remain detained in federal custody until the hearing.

Natasha Lindstrom is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Natasha at 412-380-8514, nlindstrom@tribweb.com or via Twitter @NewsNatasha.