SCRANTON-The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Stephani Taylor, age 27, of Shickshinny, Pennsylvania, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion to three years’ imprisonment to be followed by two years of supervised release for unlawfully possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, Taylor previously admitted to trading ten firearms for heroin between December 2016 and September 2017.
The matter was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and the Kingston Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.
This case was also brought as part of a district wide initiative to combat the nationwide epidemic regarding the use and distribution of heroin. Led by the United States Attorney’s Office, the Heroin Initiative targets heroin traffickers operating in the Middle District of Pennsylvania and is part of a coordinated effort among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who commit heroin related offenses.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
