SCRANTON – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Gilroy Stewart, age 52, of Cleveland, Ohio, was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani, to 51 months’ imprisonment on the charge of possession with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine.
According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Stewart previously entered a guilty plea before Judge Mariani and admitted to possessing twenty kilograms of cocaine for further distribution. The charge stems from an incident on August 28, 2018, in which members of the Pennsylvania State Police made a traffic stop of a vehicle on Interstate Route 80 in Carbon County, Pennsylvania. Stewart was the sole occupant of the vehicle. A subsequent search of the vehicle resulted in the seizure of twenty kilograms of cocaine found in a hidden compartment inside the vehicle.
The investigation was conducted by the Pennsylvania State Police and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant United States Attorney Robert J. O’Hara prosecuted the case.
This case is also 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.
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