9 Jeannette residents, 4 others charged in drug sweep
Thirteen people in Jeannette, Penn Township and North Huntingdon are accused of dealing heroin, crack cocaine and marijuana.
The suspects are mainly “street-level dealers,” said Jeannette police Chief Shannon Binda.
Charges against them were announced Wednesday by the state Attorney General's Office.
“This is an ongoing investigation, and we're going to continue to do this type of operation,” he said.
Nine of the 13 arrested in the roundup are Jeannette residents.
In addition, Binda said, a man and a woman were arrested Wednesday morning after city officers raided a Vale Street home that had been targeted in a Sept. 24 search that turned up firearms and crack cocaine.
Police at the home confiscated an ink pad, a digital scale and a plastic shopping bag containing 853 empty stamp bags that would be used for packaging heroin. Charges against the two are pending.
“These (stamp bags) were ready to be filled and put out on the streets,” Binda said.
Officers from Jeannette, Penn Township, North Huntingdon, the Westmoreland County Drug Task Force and the state Attorney General's Office used confidential informants to identify dealers and make controlled purchases, according to a news release from the attorney general.
The people from Jeannette, who are charged with various counts of possession with intent to deliver and drug possession as part of the collaborative sweep, are:
• Jesse Lee Carter, 32, dealing heroin.
• Courtney Marie Petrillo, 21, dealing crack cocaine. She also is charged with criminal use of a communication facility.
• Nathaniel James Crawford, 23, dealing heroin.
• Michael A. Moffee, 59, dealing heroin.
• Trisha Nichole Sperry, 23, dealing crack cocaine.
• Ryan Nathaniel Meyers, 22, dealing heroin.
• Ashley Nicole Uncapher, 22, dealing heroin. She also is charged with criminal use of a communication facility.
• Carissa L. Williamson, 41, dealing heroin.
• David Eugene Headen III, 20, dealing cocaine.
Others charged are:
• John Anthony Kramer, 24, of Penn Township, dealing heroin and a prescription medicine used to treat seizures and panic disorders, as well as criminal use of a communication facility.
• Victoria Dawn Tamuschy, 27, of Greensburg, dealing heroin, delivery of a controlled substance and child endangerment.
• Mark Lee Jordan, 61, of North Huntingdon, dealing marijuana and delivery of a controlled substance.
According to the news release, a 56-year-old Youngwood man faces arrest related to heroin distribution. Information about those charges was not available in online court records.
Renatta Signorini is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 724-837-5374 or rsignorini@tribweb.com.
