Pittsburgh man sentenced to nearly 6 years in prison for dealing heroin

A Pittsburgh man who had been orchestrating a major heroin ring was sentenced Thursday to nearly six years in prison, the U.S. Attorney in Pittsburgh said.

Donald Lyles Jr., 28, pleaded guilty in September in federal court in Pittsburgh to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute the heroin as part of a drug trafficking organization, the U.S. Attorney said. Lyles was ordered last month to forfeit five guns, ammunition and $2,860 in cash, according to U.S. District Court documents.

The FBI began investigating the drug ring in 2018 and wiretapped the gang from February 2019 through September 2019. During that time, Lyles was heard orchestrating and directing the heroin movement in the region, prosecutors said. They said Lyles was a key player in moving heroin from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh for drug dealers to sell.

Lyles was among 19 members of the drug-dealing gang indicted in October 2019. The agents also seized guns and cash from Lyles and other gang members.

Lyles’ prosecution resulted from a Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation, prosecutors said. Police from Stowe Township, Allegheny County Police, Pittsburgh, North Versailles, Munhall and the state police were involved in the probe, the Attorney General’s Office said.

In addition to his 70-month prison sentence, Lyles is serve four years of probation afterward.

Lyles is the son of a former Western Pennsylvania drug kingpin, Donald Lyles, who had been sentenced to life in prison in 2003, then got out prison six years later for cooperating with authorities in a drug investigation.

He was convicted again in 2013 of possession with intent to deliver more than 100 grams of heroin and was sentenced by a federal judge in Pittsburgh to 10 years in prison, according to then U.S. Attorney David Hickton.