Port Vue woman sentenced to 6 years in federal prison for involvement in heroin ring

A Port Vue woman was sentenced to six years in federal prison for her involvement in a heroin pipeline that funneled the drug from New Jersey to Western Pennsylvania, federal prosecutors said.

U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady said Krystle Barretto, 33, conspired to possess with intent to distribute and distributed more than 100 grams of heroin. She also arranged for 500 bricks, or 25,000 stamp bags, of heroin to be transported from the Paterson, New Jersey area to the McKeesport area, which was seized by law enforcement officers.

According to Brady, Barretto had a loaded handgun, an additional five bricks of heroin, and a large money counter in the bedroom of her residence in Port Vue.

Brady said the investigation utilized wiretaps from December 2014 through April 2015 of 10 different cellular telephones, surveillance, controlled drug purchases, and other investigative techniques. He said investigators established the existence of a number of overlapping and interrelated drug distribution networks at work in the affected regions, which included Clairton, McKeesport, Port Vue, and areas in Washington County, Westmoreland County, and New Jersey.

Barretto was additionally sentenced to four years of supervised release, prosecutors said.