SCRANTON – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Joshua Tanner, age 36, of East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on June 21, 2021, by United States District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion to 36 months’ imprisonment for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
According to Acting United States Attorney Bruce D. Brandler, Tanner facilitated the trade of a firearm to a drug trafficker, Ronald McKenna, in exchange for heroin, during which he possessed the firearm. Tanner had previously been convicted of a felony offense, which made it a felony for him to possess a firearm. McKenna previously pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and firearms charges and is awaiting sentencing.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Stroud Area Regional Police Department, and the Pennsylvania State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean A. Camoni prosecuted the case.
This prosecution is part of an extensive investigation by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). OCDETF is a joint federal, state, and local cooperative approach to combat drug trafficking and is the nation’s primary tool for disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations, targeting national and regional level drug trafficking organizations and coordinating the necessary law enforcement entities and resources to disrupt or dismantle the targeted criminal organization and seize their assets.
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 make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.
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