Raymond Howard, Drug Trafficking, Pennsylvania 2021

A rash of drug overdoses in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in June 2017, led to the sentence of Raymond Howard, a 46-year-old man from Williamsport, to 25 years in prison for drug trafficking. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Howard was found guilty after a five-day jury trial in October 2020.

The overdoses occurred over a three-day period in June 2017, with UPMC Susquehanna in Williamsport and Wellsboro reporting treating 51 such cases within a 48-hour period. Howard was determined to be the source of the carfentanil-laced heroin that led to the overdoses.

Howard was sentenced to 300 months' imprisonment, followed by a four-year term of supervised release, by U.S. District Court Judge Matthew W. Brann on April 30, 2021. Three co-conspirators, Wayne Davidson, Nathan Crowder, and Markeese Askew, were also charged with delivering the mixture of heroin and carfentanil that resulted in serious bodily injury to eight individuals.

Davidson and Crowder were sentenced to 210 months' imprisonment in March 2021, and Askew was sentenced to 192 months' imprisonment in April 2021. The case was investigated by the Lycoming County District Attorney's Office Narcotics Enforcement Unit, Montoursville Police Department, Old Lycoming Township Police Department, South Williamsport Police Department, Williamsport Bureau of Police, Pennsylvania State Police, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Assistant United States Attorneys Alisan V. Martin and Geoffrey W. MacArthur prosecuted the case. This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program aimed at reducing violent crime and making neighborhoods safer.

The case was also brought as part of a district-wide initiative to combat the nationwide epidemic regarding the use and distribution of heroin. Led by the United States Attorney's Office, the Heroin Initiative targets heroin traffickers operating in the Middle District of Pennsylvania and is part of a coordinated effort among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who commit heroin-related offenses.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdpa/pr/williamsport-man-sentenced-25-years-imprisonment-drug-trafficking