Authorities have busted a “large-scale” drug-trafficking network that had been using “trap houses” to shuttle fentanyl and other street drugs between Detroit and Western Pennsylvania since last summer, federal prosecutors announced this week.
An indictment unsealed Thursday in Pittsburgh charged 19 suspects — 10 of them from New Castle — with conspiring to distribute fentanyl, crack cocaine, heroin and oxycodone from August 2023 through last month.
Several of the suspects have criminal records, some stretching back three decades, including previous drug-trafficking and firearms convictions, federal prosecutors said.
The suspects supplied street dealers “throughout and beyond Western Pennsylvania,” with some working at trap houses (defined by prosecutors as drug-processing and -distribution hubs) in New Castle, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Western Pennsylvania. A number of them regularly shuttled between Pennsylvania and Michigan as part of the operation.
Police conducting a traffic stop caught one of the ring’s alleged leaders — Christian Frierson, 33, of Detroit — while he was traveling in Nebraska, en route to California, prosecutors said. They found a safe filled with more than 1,000 grams of fentanyl and nearly 250 grams of heroin, according to court paperwork.
Frierson was charged with drug crimes in Nebraska state court and released on bond, prosecutors said. Authorities said he promptly resumed his trafficking activities.
Investigators used confidential sources and informants, extensive surveillance and analysis of phone records, controlled purchases of drugs, search warrants, and eventually court-authorized wiretaps to gather evidence.
“This conspiracy involved a tight-knit network of family and friends,” U.S. Attorney Eric G. Olshan said.
Suspects could face sentences of not less than 10 years and up to life in prison, a fine of up to $10 million, or both.
Those arrested from Pennsylvania include New Castle residents Christopher Barton, 24; Edward Dietrich, 59; Alexis Donnell, 29; Kiara Jones, 24; Kenneth King, 37; Marcus Mason, 32; Daniel Rasnick, 27; Kendra Sager, 32; Jauan Searcy, 42; and George Wyatt, 61.
