Carrick man pleads guilty to dealing meth in cross-country drug trafficking case

A Pittsburgh man has pleaded guilty to dealing methamphetamine as part of a cross-country drug ring that was busted earlier this year, federal prosecutors said.

Doug Austen, 40, of the city’s Carrick neighborhood, admitted in federal court this week to possessing and distributing large quantities of methamphetamine, Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman said. As part of his guilty plea, Austen admitted to selling nearly 3 ounces of pure methamphetamine on June 9 of this year.

Austen will remain in federal custody pending his sentencing hearing, which U.S. District Judge Christy Crisswell Wiegand scheduled for March 24.

Federal sentencing guidelines call for him to serve 10 years to life in prison, Kaufman said. Austen also could be fined up to $10 million.

Austen was among 47 defendants indicted by federal grand juries as a result of the federal “Return to Sender” investigation, which Kaufman credited with bringing down “a major California-to-Western Pennsylvania drug pipeline.”

In addition to Austen’s meth-dealing charge, defendants on related indictments face counts of possessing and distributing large sums of heroin, cocaine and marijuana, while some face money laundering and gun charges.

Thomas Hodnett, acting special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Philadelphia field office, thanked state troopers and local police for having “netted drug-traffickers operating not only in Pennsylvania but in Oregon, California, Texas, and Ohio as well.”

Between late 2020 and August, the DEA led the multi-agency wiretap probe with help from the Postal Service, Homeland Security and Internal Revenue Service, along with police from Pittsburgh, Clarion and DuBois and district attorneys from Jefferson and Clearfield counties. Jefferson County District Attorney Jeff Burkett said in a statement that it was “gratifying to see so many agencies working so hard together for such a great cause.”

Meth distribution is on the rise over the past two years, with drug traffickers and gang members bringing the illegal drug across Interstate 80 from urban areas such as Detroit, Cleveland and Youngstown into places such as Titusville, Oil City and DuBois, according to the federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh.