13 from Western Pennsylvania arrested in drug sweep

A federal grand jury in Pittsburgh has indicted 14 people on drug and firearms charges.

The office of U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton announced the charges contained in six separate but related indictments Friday.

Thirteen of the defendants are from Western Pennsylvania and one is from New Jersey.

“We identified a number of overlapping and interrelated violent drug distribution networks operating in Clairton, McKeesport, Washington County, Westmoreland County and New Jersey,” Hickton said.

In the first indictment, four people were charged with alleged heroin trafficking between January and April. Charged in that indictment are McKeesport residents Jarran Bell, 34, and Krystle Barreto, 29; Donald Mitchell, 34, of New Eagle; and Amanda Santiago, 23, of Jersey City, N.J. In addition to trafficking, Bell and Barreto are charged with possession of a firearm in the furtherance of a drug crime.

The second indictment charges Clairton residents Drake Cheadle, 22, Oscar Woods Jr., 51, Vance Gibson, 38, and Isaac Love, 23; Franklin Spence III, 20, of McKeesport; and Heidi Welsh, 27, of Connellsville with trafficking heroin between October and May.

Clairton residents Bradley Dawkins, 26, and Skylar Simmons, no age available, are charged in the third and fourth indictments with illegal possession of firearms by convicted felons.

Kelli Johnson, 36, of Clairton is charged in the fifth indictment with trafficking crack cocaine between December and March.

Tyler Hurt, 22, of Clairton is charged in the sixth indictment with trafficking heroin between February 2014 and April of this year and illegal possession of a handgun.

Federal agents and local police rounded up 13 people, mostly in the Clairton area, Friday morning, FBI spokesman Greg Heeb said.

Eric Slagle is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-664-9161, ext. 1966, or eslagle@tribweb.com.