The son of a former Pittsburgh Steelers star was ordered to serve up to 16 years in prison for the attempted sale of raw fentanyl to undercover officers in the Ligonier area.
Cortez Marcell Haselrig, 27, of Johnstown pleaded guilty to four felony drug counts in connection with what authorities in court documents described as a four-month multi-county investigation into allegations of drug trafficking.
Police said they received a tip that Haselrig was traveling into the Ligonier area in June 2022 with enough raw fentanyl for 2,500 single doses of the drug, with a street value of about $90,000, and arranged a meeting with a confidential informant in the parking lot of a Giant Eagle store in Ligonier Borough.
Haselrig was arrested as he attempted to flee and was found with 50 grams of the drug and more than $1,600 in cash, police said.
Investigators described Haselrig as an upper-level drug dealer and said in court documents that he was a major supplier of fentanyl in Westmoreland County.
Haselrig appeared in Westmore- land County court Monday for what was originally scheduled as a hearing to finalize plans for his trial. Instead, he pleaded guilty to four counts as part of a deal with prosecutors, in which six additional charges were dismissed.
Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio imposed the terms of the plea deal that called for Haselrig to serve eight to 16 years in prison. Haselrig has been in jail since his arrest June 29, 2022.
The judge ordered his sentence to run concurrently with all other prison sentences Haselrig is serving. Court records show Haselrig has a criminal record with convictions that include illegal gun possession, drug charges and drunken driving offenses dating to 2016.
Haselrig is the son of Pro Bowl offensive lineman Carlton Haselrig, who played with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1989 though 1993. Prior to his football career, he was a college wrestling champion at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.
Carlton Haselrig died in 2020.
