Onetime McKeesport mayoral candidate pleads no contest to drug charges

A man who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in McKeesport two years ago pleaded no contest on Monday to a pair of misdemeanor drug possession counts with the expectation they will be expunged from his record.

Corry Sanders, 55, entered the plea before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Simquita Bridges.

A sentencing agreement with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office calls for Sanders to complete six months of probation and pay $550 restitution to the state police crime lab.

Once his probation has been completed, said defense attorney David Chontos, the charges will be withdrawn, and Sanders can petition the court for expungement.

The prosecution has agreed to not oppose the request.

“That’s right where we were before they were ever indicted,” Chontos said.

Taking the no-contest plea benefits his client, according to the lawyer.

“Globally, look at where we started, and look at where we are,” Chontos said. “There’s always the risk of losing. The result we got — it’s as if it never happened.”

Sanders was charged, along with six others, on Dec. 30, 2022, with multiple counts of drug possession and possession with the intent to deliver stemming from two controlled buys allegedly made by a confidential informant in September and November 2022.

At the time of his arrest, Sanders was running for mayor against incumbent Mike Cherepko.

Sanders, who was convicted of drug charges in 1993, won a seat on McKeesport City Council in 2016 but was prohibited from serving because of the conviction. He was pardoned in the drug case in 2019.

Sanders then decided to run for mayor in 2023. However, that campaign was halted because of the charges filed by the attorney general’s office.

“I think the citizens of McKeesport lost the opportunity to have a person who would do quite well represent that as mayor,” Chontos said.