West Mifflin man guilty of storing 404 pounds of marijuana in Squirrel Hill 'stash house'

A West Mifflin man accused of using an apartment in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood to store hundreds of pounds of illegal marijuana pleaded guilty to federal drug charges, prosecutors said Thursday.

Wayne Barker, 61, had operated what officials called a large-scale “stash house” as part of a drug trafficking ring in the region, U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady said.

Barker was nabbed in a long-term wiretap investigation led by the FBI and Greater Pittsburgh Safe Streets Task Force.

Authorities obtained approval in April to monitor the phone and electronic communications of one of Barker’s co-conspirators in the drug ring, Brady said.

The wiretapping evidence led officials to target Barker’s apartment on Covode Street.

On May 24, detectives doing surveillance watched a Dodge Ram pickup truck pull into the residence’s driveway, then saw several people unload boxes and take them to the apartment, prosecutors said. Others returned from the apartment and placed two boxes inside the truck.

A search of the pickup turned up nearly $470,000 in cash. A search of the apartment turned up 404 pounds of marijuana and another $5,000 as well as drug-dealing supplies, including vacuum sealers and a money counter.

The investigation was funded by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, which provides money for federal and local agencies to collaborate on major drug trafficking cases. Police assisted from Allegheny County, Pittsburgh, Monroeville, Penn Hills and Wilkinsburg.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca L. Silinski prosecuted the case.

Barker remains out on bond until his May 12 sentencing hearing.

He faces a possible sentence of not less than five years and no more than 40 years in prison and a fine up to $5 million.