Georgia woman gets house arrest, probation for delivering heroin to Westmoreland County

A Westmoreland County judge said a Georgia woman prosecutors described as a drug mule who transported large quantities of heroin into the area was a good person who “made a bad choice.” On Monday, he rejected a potential prison sentence in lieu of house arrest.

Sade Franklin, 35, formerly of Harrisburg, was convicted in July by a jury of drug delivery, racketeering and conspiracy charges in connection with a heroin distribution ring prosecutors said operated in southwestern Pennsylvania throughout 2016.

Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger ordered Franklin to serve four years of probation, including one year of house arrest in Georgia, where she now lives.

“I have some questions as to why. Maybe she fell in love with the wrong man, I don’t know. I have to take a look at what’s best for society and what’s best for society is not to incarcerate you,” Krieger said.

Police said Franklin made four trips from Patterson, N.J., into Westmoreland County to delivery heroin at the behest of a convicted dealer as part of a scheme to raise money to hire a lawyer for an appeal of his 30-year prison sentence.

Franklin, who has since relocated to suburban Atlanta, told the judge she turned her life around, cares for four children, attended cosmetology school, works two jobs and is no longer associated with the drug trade.

“Living with this for the last four years has not been easy. I was fired from jobs, and it’s on my record,” Franklin said.

Prosecutors said Franklin became associated with James Moore, who in 2016 was a state prison inmate in Huntingdon County. Investigators said he and Franklin met in person and that he later contacted her by phone and email to arrange for drugs to be delivered to another local dealer.

Chauncy Bray, 31, of Jeannette testified that Franklin brought him drugs four times over a four-month period. Bray and Moore, 34, were among more than two dozen people charged in 2011 with operating a multi-million-dollar crack cocaine ring in Westmoreland County.

Bray testified against Moore at his 2013 trial and is currently in jail awaiting trial on multiple drug offenses.

Defense attorney Jack Manderino said Franklin’s mother struggled with addiction and that she moved away from New Jersey to remove herself from conditions that plagued her childhood. She is not the same person who was arrested in 2016, he said.

“This is a story of a survivor. She turned her life around, someone who used bad judgement,” Manderino said. “Don’t take away all the progress she’s made.”

Assistant District Attorney Jim Lazar argued Franklin’s actions were in sharp contrast to the woman described in court on Monday. He said Franklin rejected a proposed plea deal before trial that called for her to serve 4 to 10 years in prison.

“This scheme was designed to help get another drug dealer out of jail,” Lazar said. “She got out of a bad neighborhood and goes out and transports that bad stuff to another neighborhood.”