2/3/17
by News Department on 02/03/17Guilty plea in drug ring...
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A Shenandoah man admitted Thursday in federal court in Scranton that he participated in a heroin trafficking ring that peddled the drug in Schuylkill County for approximately four years.
22 year old Shane Lopez is the seventh person to plead guilty to participating in the conspiracy.
Federal authorities charged that Lopez acted as a sub-distributor of heroin for Rhasean Strange, the leader of the conspiracy who already has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing for the heroin-trafficking ring that operated from 2012 through May 2016.
Senior U.S. District Judge James M. Munley scheduled his sentencing for May 5 in Scranton. Lopez is subject to a mandatory minimum prison sentence of five years, and could spend 40 years behind bars.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa is prosecuting the case, which was investigated by the FBI, Pennsylvania State Police and Shenandoah police.
