6 accused in conspiracy to smuggle drugs into Westmoreland County Prison

A Cambria County woman is accused of working with four Westmoreland County Prison inmates in failed attempts to bring drugs into the jail, according to court papers.

Matraca Lynn Vrana, 26, was arraigned Friday and jailed on $50,000 bail.

She and five others, including the mother of one of the inmates, are accused by county detectives in the scheme during January and February, according to court papers.

The other suspects are:

• David McGinnis, 27, of Bolivar.

• his former cellmate Joshuwa Samuel Petrill, 39, of Penn Township.

• his mother Denise McGinnis, 49, of Bolivar.

• Terry Bruce Ely Jr., 31, of Greensburg.

• Matthew Daniel Lucas, 38, of Jeannette.

Each is charged with conspiracy and attempted contraband.

After getting a tip in January, jail officials began listening to McGinnis’ recorded phone calls from the Hempfield facility to unravel the alleged scheme, according to court papers. McGinnis, who is being held in the jail on drug charges, called Vrana, his girlfriend, on Jan. 28 and discussed a smuggling attempt with her and his mother, police said.

McGinnis asked Vrana three days later to hide items, including an Apple Watch, 10 Suboxone strips and three sheets of paper soaked in K2, or synthetic marijuana, inside a toilet paper roll in a bathroom at the office of District Judge Wayne Gongaware in North Huntingdon. Suboxone can be used to treat pain and addiction to pain relievers. Petrill would pick up the items when he was taken there for a preliminary hearing on a stalking charge Feb. 5, according to court papers.

But Petrill wasn’t able to because a sheriff’s deputy accompanied him into the bathroom, McGinnis later told Vrana on a phone call, investigators said. Authorities later found a piece of paper in Petrill’s belongings that described where to find the items, according to court papers.

Jail officials discovered that another inmate, Ely, also was calling Vrana. Ely, who is serving a sentence in a theft case, is accused of arranging in mid-January for an inmate who has work release privileges to get Suboxone from Vrana so Ely could sell it at the jail, according to court papers.

Lucas told investigators he contacted Vrana but never met up with her. He has a parole revocation hearing set for next month in a child endangerment case, according to court papers.

Denise McGinnis has an April trial tentatively scheduled in a drug and child endangerment case from July.

None of the six suspects had attorneys listed in online court records of the new cases. Ely, both McGinnises, Lucas and Petrill were awaiting arraignment. Vrana’s preliminary hearing is set for March 27.