Another Shenandoah man admitted Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Scranton that he participated in a plot to distribute heroin in his hometown.
Paul Jadus, 50, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute more than 100 grams of heroin.
Senior U.S. District Judge James M. Munley accepted the plea, ordered preparation of a presentence investigation and scheduled Jadus’ sentencing for April 15. Jadus faces a mandatory minimum prison sentence of five years.
A federal grand jury in Scranton indicted Jadus and seven other men on Sept. 8, 2015, alleging they obtained heroin in New York, New Jersey, Hazleton and other places, and then brought it to Shenandoah for distribution.
Jadus admitted he distributed heroin and allowed his 26 S. Grant St. residence to be used as a “stash house” to store drugs and money for his co-conspirators, prosecutors said.
The conspiracy was a dangerous enterprise, according to the indictment.
“The defendants and/or their co-conspirators possessed firearms to protect their drug distribution locations and activities,” the indictment reads in part. “The defendants and/or their co-conspirators used threats and/or intimidation to collect drug debts, punish disloyalty, and further the goals of the drug conspiracy.”
Jadus himself helped to store and distribute more than 700 grams, or more than 23,000 retail bags, of heroin, according to prosecutors.
FBI agents, Pennsylvania State Police investigators and local police in Schuylkill County investigated the case, which is part of an initiative across the Middle District of Pennsylvania to combat the nationwide heroin epidemic. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is leading the initiative, which targets heroin traffickers across the district and is part of a coordinated effort of federal, state and local law enforcement.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa is prosecuting the case against Jadus.