A federal grand jury has indicted 17 people on drug and gun charges in a crackdown by federal agents and police on gang activity near Allegheny Commons on the North Side.
The U.S. attorney’s office announced the case Friday after two indictments were unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court charging the defendants with dealing in fentanyl and crack cocaine and carrying illegal guns.
The first indictment named Dayon Shelton, 32, of Pittsburgh, who is accused of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.
The lead defendant in the other indictment is Dejarnette Blanchard, 32, of Pittsburgh. He and 15 others are accused of conspiring to deal crack and fentanyl and using guns to aid their drug dealing. Several are accused of possession of guns as felons.
The U.S. attorney’s office said the case is the result of a four-month wiretap investigation by Pittsburgh police, the FBI and ATF targeting drug trafficking and violence in and around Allegheny Commons.
Details of the case are sparse, but an affidavit supporting the arrest of one of those indicted, 23-year-old Terry James, indicates Pittsburgh police had been monitoring drug transactions by him and others on East Ohio Street earlier this month as they entered and exited the My Brother’s Keeper barbershop.
Officers arrested James on the evening of Aug. 3 after watching him make drug deals all day, according to the affidavit. He had $167 in his pocket along with a digital scale. Inside a fanny pack, he was carrying a loaded pistol, police said.
In addition to James, these are the others indicted:
Babangida Adam, 27, of Carnegie; Kenneth Blanchard, 37, of Pittsburgh; Terry Booth, 19, of Pittsburgh; Norman Davis, 37, of Pittsburgh; Lawrence Gray, 55, of Pittsburgh; Clinton McLaughlin, 55, of Pittsburgh; Taemon Posey, 28, of Pittsburgh; Demetrius Reynolds, 20, of Pittsburgh; Markel Sayles, 25, of Pittsburgh; Gilbert Smith, 44, of Bruin in Butler County; Ories Smith, 25, of Pittsburgh; Denzel Tomlin, 27, of Pittsburgh; and Damor Williams, 19, of Pittsburgh.
One more defendant, Austin Coburn, is a fugitive.
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
