Home >  Local News

Investigation also foils two-county Ecstasy ring

Wednesday, April 10, 2002

By Jan Ackerman, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

State Attorney General Mike Fisher said his office has shut down a Phoenix-to-Beaver County drug pipeline that brought $21.6 million in cocaine to Western Pennsylvania in the past two years.

Displaying pillow-size packets of cocaine at his Pittsburgh office, Fisher announced yesterday that law enforcement officers had rounded up 22 suspects of the 32 named in a presentment by a statewide grand jury and anticipate that another seven suspects will turn themselves in.

Beaver County District Attorney Dale M. Fouse said the drug bust was one of the largest in Beaver County's history, involving as many as 120 state and local law enforcement officers. During the investigation, state agents seized eight vehicles worth an estimated $250,000, $40,000 in cash and two handguns.

The reputed ringleader, Michael Glanton, 29, of Phoenix and formerly of Aliquippa, and his aunt, Angela Y. White, 37, of Fort Hood, Texas, and another associate, Dinesha Owens, 29, of Surprise, Ariz., have not been apprehended.

Peris Smith, 21, of Aliquippa, was identified as Glanton's key lieutenant who helped Glanton move drugs from suppliers in Phoenix and directly from sources in Mexico. Aliquippa District Justice Janet M. Swihart scheduled preliminary hearings for Monday for Smith and the other 21 suspects.

Yesterday's announcement came out of a probe into illegal drug trafficking in Beaver County that began last May. Fisher said the drug investigation preceded the investigation into the fatal shooting last year of Aliquippa police Officer James Naim, but said aspects of the two probes overlapped.

Fisher said his agents found evidence linking Glanton to the 29th Street Garden Block Crip Gang, which has affiliations in California, Arizona and Kansas.

In late 2000 and early last year, a confidential informant made a series of cocaine buys from Glanton which allowed Fisher's office to secure court orders to tap both Glanton's and Smith's cellular telephones, according to the grand jury presentment. As a result of the surveillance, they learned that Glanton was planning to bring illegal drugs into Beaver County from Phoenix on a long bed pickup truck and store them in a Midland garage.

On March 30, the grand jury said, Glanton and Smith went to the Hampton Inn in Moon, where they met White, who was on a 10-day leave from the Army in Texas. Glanton rode with White in her Dodge Dakota pickup truck and Smith drove a separate car.

The three were heading to the garage where they would unload the cocaine from the pickup, when they were stopped by state police and agents from Fisher's office.

After getting a sealed search warrant from Beaver County President Judge Robert Reed, agents searched the truck and seized the 12 kilos of cocaine, hidden inside a secret compartment in the bed.

Peris Smith is the brother of Anthony "Tusweet" Smith, 23, of Aliquippa, who was convicted last month of aggravated assault and attempted homicide of a prosecution witness.

He tried to kill Kyle Goosby of Ambridge, who testified against one of the two suspects in the March 15, 2001 ambush slaying of the Aliquippa patrolman.

Other defendants charged were Glanton's uncle, Tyrone Reddick, of Midland; Smith's wife, Abigail Smith, 23; his brother, Richard Lowe, 28; and his brother-in-law, Marcos Ordonez, 19, all of Aliquippa.

Fisher said the investigation also led to the breakup of an Ecstasy ring in Allegheny and Beaver counties operated by Benjamin Gregory of Moon, who worked with Francis Battista, 31, of Sheraden, and Jason Pratchenko, 22, of Oakland.

Other defendants charged in the roundup are: Dana Penny, 20, Sakeitha Ross, 19, Kier Thornton, 27, Robert Jones, 28, Theresa Tyson, 38, Janet Sims, 32, James R. Morman Jr., 29, and Terry Patrick, 31, all of Aliquippa.

Also charged were Fred Cleckley, 20, Leslie Cleckley, 23, Gary McKenzie, 22, Jelani Soloman, 23, and Adrian Taylor, 25, all of Beaver Falls; Shawn Helisek, 26, of New Brighton; Ralph Smith, 32, of Ambridge; Brent Lake, 30, of Rochester; Kelly Carter, 35, who was living at the Goodwill House on the South Side; Ross Landfried, 20, of Moon; and Alan Wickline of Ross.

Several of the defendants already are incarcerated on other charges, including Justin Thomas, 27, of the State Correctional Institution Camp Hill, and Michael Bigstaff, 25, who is in the Lawrence County Jail.