Scranton Heroin Kingpin Shawn Isom Sentenced To Seven Years

SCRANTON—In a major blow to Pennsylvania’s drug trade, Shawn Isom, 45, of Scranton, was handed a 70-month prison sentence by U.S. District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani on February 27, 2017, for trafficking in heroin.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania revealed that Isom had pleaded guilty to possession with the intent to distribute between 80 and 100 grams of heroin—a stash equivalent to around 3,000-4,000 retail bags of the drug. The crime occurred in Lackawanna County during September 2015.

Isom’s journey through the penal system took a turn when he was on supervised release for a previous federal drug conspiracy charge at the time of the heroin trafficking offense. Mariani’s sentence included a 50-month term for the heroin trafficking and an additional 20 months for violating his supervised release terms. Following his prison term, Isom will serve six years on supervised release.

The investigation that led to Isom’s conviction was a collaborative effort by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Pennsylvania State Police, and the Scranton Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Francis P. Sempa handled the prosecution of the case with tenacity.

This case is part of the Heroin Initiative, a district-wide initiative aimed at tackling the country’s heroin epidemic by targeting traffickers in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The initiative involves a coordinated effort among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those involved in heroin-related offenses.