BROOKVILLE, Pa. (EYT) — Four more defendants in the state Attorney General’s recent “Snail Mail” drug enforcement operation are set to appear in court next week.
According to court documents, the quartet will appear in District Judge Greg Bazylak’s office on Friday, November 3, for their preliminary hearings as follows:
– 9:00 a.m., Daniel Hopkins, 50, of Tucson, Arizona; Hopkins is lodged in the Jefferson County Jail on $300,000.00 monetary bail.
– 9:15 a.m., Larry Dean, 58, of Mayport, Pa.; Dean is lodged in the Jefferson County Jail on $250,000.00 monetary bail.
– 9:45 a.m., Dale Hanlin, 66, of Cooksburg, Pa.; Hanlin is lodged in the Jefferson County Jail on $250,000.00 bail.
– 10:15 a.m., Matthew Watson, 30, of Luthersburg, Pa.; Watson, who was a fugitive, was recently arrested near DuBois. He is lodged in the Jefferson County Jail on $50,000.00.
There are five others who are still wanted by police, including Joshua Carson, 32, of Victorville, California; Destiny Douglas, 21, of DuBois, Pa..; Sonya Pritchard, 52, of Bakersfield, California; Mikelle Shetley, 32, of DuBois, Pa.,; and George Watson, 50, Luthersburg, Pa.
Details of the case:
Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced charges against 30 suspected drug dealers following a multi-agency effort dubbed “Operation Snail Mail.”
The charges stem from the shipment and sale of $1.6 million in crystal methamphetamine in Jefferson, Clarion, Clearfield, Elk, and Forest counties over the last year and a half.
The crystal meth was shipped to Jefferson County and the surrounding area through the U.S. mail from drug dealers in Arizona and California. It was then sold throughout North Central Pennsylvania by a network of 30 drug dealers.
The 35 pounds of crystal meth that they sold – broken up into ¼ and ½ gram doses – produced between 32,000 and 64,000 doses of the drug that were sold in the five North Central PA counties.
Investigators used a series of controlled purchases, court-approved electronic surveillance, package interceptions, and other tactics to identify the drug dealers involved.
The cases will be prosecuted in Jefferson County by Senior Deputy Attorney General Marnie Sheehan-Balchon and District Attorney Burkett, appointed a Special Deputy Attorney General in this investigation.
