A retired Greensburg police officer who has collected more than $100,000 in pension payments is set to learn her sentence Tuesday in a federal drug conspiracy case involving the city’s former police chief.
Attorney Lee Demosky, solicitor for Greensburg’s police pension committee, said he plans to attend the sentencing hearing for Regina McAtee and work with the U.S. Attorney’s Office afterwards to get copies of records in the case. Those attempts thus far have been unsuccessful.
“Right now, her case is not final until that sentencing occurs,” he said.
McAtee, 52, of New Kensington pleaded guilty in May 2024 to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
Prosecutors said she conspired with former Greensburg police Chief Shawn Denning, 44, of Delmont between November 2020 and January 2023 to order and pay for drugs from suppliers online.
Pills they ordered that contained methamphetamine. They were shipped to McAtee’s home, and text messages between her and Denning showed they were working together, investigators have said. The orders were at first 10 to 20 pills, but progressed to 100 at a time. McAtee made Cash App payments to the online suppliers, authorities said.
A sentencing memorandum filed this week by defense attorney Charles Porter indicated McAtee and Denning were involved romantically.
U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Bissoon is scheduled to sentence McAtee on Tuesday at 10 a.m. in Pittsburgh federal court. She is seeking probation, her attorney said in court filings.
Once prosecutors’ documents in the case are available to him, Demosky said he will review them and make a recommendation to the pension board. Greensburg Council has been trying to determine if McAtee is still eligible for her full pension.
Records obtained by the Trib showed McAtee has received more than $100,000 in monthly pension payments since her mid-2023 retirement, including $5,160.99 on May 1.
McAtee was suspended without pay from the Greensburg force for five months in February 2023, the month after Denning’s arrest at city hall, and retired later that year. She was charged in March 2024.
A presentencing memorandum from prosecutors was not available in public court records as of Friday afternoon.
McAtee became a police officer in Greensburg in 2003, according to the defense filing. In it, Porter said McAtee was prescribed Adderall in 2007 for treatment of ADHD, which she used, and sometimes abused, in the years after.
A Feb. 22, 2023, drug and alcohol evaluation showed she was not in need of treatment. Four letters of support were submitted to the court on her behalf. McAtee has been free on bond since her arrest.
“She is a college-educated woman who has had some prior addiction problem that appears to have been resolved,” Porter wrote. “She also has suffered from a mental health illness that was, in part, treated by the medication that was ultimately abused. Ms. McAtee has stopped using these controlled substances, has continued with counseling and appears to be, once again, a gainful, productive member of society.”
Denning was ordered to report June 10 to begin serving a 15-month sentence in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty in April 2024 to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine.
Prosecutors said he communicated with a government informant starting in July 2021 and connected that person with drug dealers in California to buy cocaine and methamphetamine. That continued for 15 months, according to court papers.
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