PITTSBURGH, PA - A resident of New Castle, Pennsylvania was sentenced in federal court to 39 months’ imprisonment followed by six years of supervised release on his conviction of distributing crack cocaine within 1,000 feet of an elementary school while on federal supervised release, United States Attorney Cindy K. Chung announced today.
United States District Judge Cathy Bissoon imposed the sentence on Melvin Dorsey-Pace, age 29.
On April 6, 2021, Dorsey-Pace distributed crack cocaine near St. Vitus Elementary School in New Castle, Pennsylvania. He was on federal supervised release at that time. He was previously convicted in 2016 in federal court for conspiring to distribute crack cocaine and was released to supervised release in 2020.
Assistant United States Attorney Craig W. Haller prosecuted this case on behalf of the United States.
The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Lawrence County Drug Task Force, the Mercer County Drug Task Force, the New Castle Police Department, the Sharon Police Department, the Hermitage Police Department, and the Farrell Police Department led the investigation resulting in the conviction and sentence in this case.
This prosecution is a result of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles high-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten communities throughout the United States. OCDETF uses a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.5
Source: USAO - Pennsylvania, Western
