Westmoreland judge gives Pittsburgh man jail break in North Huntingdon drug case

A Pittsburgh man charged last summer with discarding 50 bricks of heroin during a police chase through North Huntingdon avoided a jail sentence when a Westmoreland County judge said he could be a strong example to children he mentors.

Laplez Cummings, 35, pleaded guilty Thursday to drug charges, reckless endangerment and fleeing from police in connection with a three-mile chase along Route 30 in January 2019 following an attempted traffic stop. Police said Cummings tossed more than 2,600 stamp bags of heroin from a car during the chase then jumped through the moving vehicle’s window and fled on foot before he was captured. Police rammed into the unoccupied vehicle to bring it to a stop, according to court records.

Police said the discarded drugs carried a street value of about $25,000.

“I did a dumb mistake,” Cummings told Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio.

Defense attorney Rachael Santoriella said Cummings was not a drug dealer and that his mistake was associating with the wrong people.

“He was hanging out with a group of fellows he knows better than to hang out with,” Santoriella said.

Cummings said he serves as a volunteer for a Pittsburgh-area community group where he mentors children and adults and also serves as an unpaid basketball coach.

Prosecutors proposed Cummings serve 15 months to three years in prison, but the judge said a lesser sentence was warranted. Bilik-DeFazio ordered Cummings serve three years on probation and one year on house arrest.

“This was something so out of your character,” Bilik-DeFazio said, telling Cummings that his experiences could be an important teaching moment for children he mentors. “You have such a tremendous opportunity to give back.”