PITTSBURGH - A resident of North Carolina has been sentenced in federal court to one day of incarceration followed by three years of supervised release on her conviction of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, United States Attorney Scott W. Brady announced today.
Senior United States District Judge Arthur J. Schwab imposed the sentence on Joelle Hollis, age 31, of North Carolina.
According to information presented to the court, in 2017, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration initiated a wiretap investigation, primarily targeting the GBK street gang and drug trafficking in and around an area known as the Greenway Projects, located in the West End of the City of Pittsburgh. The wiretap investigation revealed that from in and around November 2017 through in and around June 2018, Joelle Hollis conspired, with her boyfriend, Jewell Hall, among others, to distribute cocaine, primarily in and around the Greenway Projects. Hollis also obtained sensitive law enforcement information from a friend who worked in the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office and used the information to attempt to protect the conspiracy from detection by law enforcement.
Prior to imposing sentence, Senior Judge Schwab stated that the sentence was sufficient but not greater than necessary to achieve the goals of sentencing.
Assistant United States Attorneys Tonya Sulia Goodman and Yvonne M. Saadi prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
United States Attorney Brady commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration jointly with the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office, Pennsylvania State Police, Robinson Township Police Department, Stowe Township Police Department, Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, Wilkinsburg Borough Police Department, and the McKees Rocks Police Department, for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Hollis.
The investigation was funded by the federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Program (OCDETF). The OCDETF program supplies critical federal funding and coordination that allows federal and state agencies to work together to successfully identify, investigate, and prosecute major interstate and international drug trafficking organizations and other criminal enterprises.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
