CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — A man found guilty in December of five felony drug counts related to selling numerous several stamp bags of heroin was sentenced to several years in state prison on Wednesday in the Clarion County Courthouse.
President Judge James Arner sentenced 24-year-old Todd Ellis Carter, of Pittsburgh, a minimum of nine years and a maximum of 18 years.
Judge Arner also ordered Carter to not have any contact with any of the witnesses who testified against him in the case.
A jury convicted Carter of three felony counts of the manufacture, delivery, or possession with the intent to manufacture or deliver a controlled substance and two third-degree felony counts of the criminal use of a communication facility.
He was found not guilty of drug delivery resulting in death.
Carter was taken back to the Clarion County Jail. He will be taken to the State Correctional Institution in Waynesburg, Greene County, to serve his sentence.
Michael Bogush, Carter’s court-appointed attorney, argued for a concurrent sentence of two to four years and explained how his client had changed since June 29, 2016, when he was incarcerated in the county jail.
Carter also addressed the court about the changes in his life.
“I’ve had a lot of time to think about what I’ve done and the choices I’ve made,” Carter said. “I’m not the same person I was in 2016. I’ll be able to get a good job when I get out.”
Bogush told the court that Carter had earned a certificate in masonry while jailed and how his mother, a nurse, had seen changes in her son.
Prosecutor Maureen Sheehan Balchon argued that Carter had been arrested for intimidating a witness and had prior convictions for robbery and assault.
Clarion Borough Police Chief William H. Peck, IV, delivered an impassioned address to the court about Carter.
“In 2013, I met Mr. Carter for the first time. He was living in a low-income housing complex across from an elementary school,” Peck said. “He had been ripped off in a drug deal, and he wanted revenge, so he set up another deal, and he and another man ended up assaulting a man and a woman and the woman was punched in the face and had her eye socket broken.”
Bogush argued that Carter hadn’t hit the woman, but Judge Arner overruled his objection.
Sheehan Balchon argued that “he (Carter) gets out, and he then goes and does this.”
Peck then said that Carter didn’t deserve any leniency.
“I talk to people in our county, and they are tired of them coming here and dealing drugs. Our residents are just tired of it,” Peck said.
A Clarion-based State Trooper, who led the investigation, also addressed the court.
“The opioid addiction problem is tearing our community apart, and it needs to stop,” the trooper said. “Three times, he (Carter) has been arrested for dealing heroin, and when he gets a fourth opportunity to change his life, what does he do? He goes right back to selling heroin and ultimately it leads to the death of a man.”
“He has never taken responsibility for his actions or shown any remorse. While he’s been locked up, he’s had seven misconducts at the Clarion County Jail or SCI Marienville.”
“I ask your honor to send a message,” the trooper said.
Judge Arner did call for a brief recess before returning to deliver the sentence.
Carter did receive credit for 427 days served. Carter also received two to four years on re-sentencing from the 2013 case.
Pending case:
Carter also has a pending case in Clarion County in which police say he threatened one of the witnesses who testified in the current case against him.
He was arraigned on those charges on December 12 in district court. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for February 6, but it was continued to February 13.
Case Details:
Investigators from Pennsylvania State Police Troop C filed charges against Todd Ellis Carter, Jr., of Pittsburgh, in relation to a fatal heroin overdose death of Joel Tanner Stark, of Rimersburg.
The charges stem from an investigation by the Pennsylvania State Police with the assistance of the Clarion County Drug Task Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The investigation revealed that Todd Ellis Carter, Jr., had delivered the fatal heroin to Stark and two confidential informants on January 14, 2016, in Allegheny County.
Eight stamp bags, some used, marked “‘Essence” were recovered from Stark’s residence near his body.
On January 15, 2016, troopers conducted a controlled purchase of heroin from Carter in Allegheny County. Twenty stamp bags were purchased from Carter, and an additional amount of heroin was seized from Carter upon his arrest. The heroin was all stamped with the same “Essence” logo.
