Wilkes-Barre Man Convicted Of Fentanyl Trafficking

SCRANTON - The United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Kevin Jones, aka "Hat," age 39, formerly of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl after a four-day jury trial before United States District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion.

According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, the jury found Jones guilty of having conspired to distribute more than 400 grams of fentanyl during the course of the conspiracy. Jones was one of fifteen individuals indicted in February 2023 for conspiring to distribute fentanyl in Northeastern Pennsylvania and elsewhere. Jones and his co-conspirators obtained pills containing fentanyl via the mail from co-conspirators in Arizona. Jones and his co-conspirators then distributed the pills in Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, and other locations in Northeastern Pennsylvania, as well as other states.

At trial, the Government presented testimony from six of Jones' co-conspirators. Investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Wilkes-Barre Police Department, and the United States Postal Inspection Service also testified. Assistant United States Attorneys Robert J. O'Hara and Gerard T. Donahue prosecuted the case.

To date, thirteen co-defendants have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

Jones faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison. The maximum penalty under federal law for the offense is life in prison, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine.

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