300 bricks of heroin found in Jeep; four m
By: Maria Miller
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. " A large amount of drugs have been taken off the streets and a significant drug-trafficking ring has been broken up following the arrests of four people, authorities said.
Authorities said it's the largest bust of packaged heroin ever in this part of western Pennsylvania. The drug ring allegedly touched all four corners of Cambria County, as well as Bedford, Blair and Somerset counties.
WJAC-TV has done stories about large amounts of heroin in the past, particularly in Somerset County, when it's found during traffic stops on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Last year, more than 15 pounds of raw heroin worth more than $3 million was discovered.
But those busts were people who appeared to be passing through the county.
Tuesday's bust in Johnstown involved drugs that authorities said were brought here to be distributed locally.
Authorities said they found 300 bricks of heroin " or about 15,000 stamp bags packaged and ready for sale " inside a Jeep last week.
"It's fair to say that this heroin seized could exceed $250,000 street value," Cambria County Drug Task Force Detective Kevin Price said.
Authorities said the drugs were hidden in the back of a Jeep driven by Terrance Sitton of Johnstown.
Authorities said they had been keeping track of Sitton for the past several months, monitoring his whereabouts, his phone calls and messages, and knew exactly where he was headed.
"We had what's called a ping warrant," Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Haines said. "It's a location data device that we had working on his phone so we were able to watch him leave this district [and] travel to his location in New York, and we knew exactly when he was coming back into town with a warrant."
Authorities pulled Sitton over along Route 56 as soon as he crossed into Cambria County.
Once they arrested him on a federal warrant, they said a sheriff's department K-9 sniffed out the drugs, but it took the help of local mechanics and several tools to break into a rear compartment, where authorities said the drugs were hidden.
"Once the carpet was removed, we noticed that it was cut and there was a steel plate," Price said. "We had saws that we had to cut brackets away. Once they were cut away, we were able to retrieve the large quantity of heroin."
In addition to Sitton, three others are facing federal charges for their alleged involvement.
Authorities said the bust essentially tears apart, or at least disrupts, a significant drug-trafficking ring in the region.
"I think the public should be assured and comforted that when we said we mean business in terms of ridding the streets of heroin and dealing with the opioid problem on both the supply and demand side, that we mean business," U.S. Attorney David Hickton said.
All four men are in custody of U.S. marshals, but are being housed in the Cambria county Jail. If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison and fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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