Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that on November 25, 2019, Shavonne Saxon, age 32, of Kingston, Pennsylvania, received a sentence of 72 months’ imprisonment and three years of supervised release, by United States District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion, for distributing crack cocaine, and for possessing a firearm in furtherance of her drug trafficking.

According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, Saxon admitted to working as a drug dealer in 2016 and 2017, and to distributing and possessing with intent to distribute at least 60 grams of crack cocaine and at least 165 grams of cocaine. Saxon also admitted to possessing a firearm in furtherance of her trafficking activities, and the United States seized from her and forfeited a Ruger LCP .380.

Saxon was one of 16 individuals charged in 2017 with various drug trafficking and firearms offenses. All of the defendants have pleaded guilty, with 13 others having already been sentenced:

• Kassandra Martin of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment;

• Joshua Lenchick of Luzerne, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment;

• Kristyna Shotwell of Plymouth, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 12 months and one day of imprisonment;

• Tanay Jones of Bronx, New York, was sentenced to a time served sentence of 19 days’ imprisonment;

• William Waring of Bronx, New York, was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment;

• John Maybank of Bronx, New York, was sentenced to 53 months’ imprisonment;

• Siobhan Daniels, ofWilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment;

• Luis Nevarez, of Bronx, New York, was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment;

• Adonis Smith, of New London, Connecticut, was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment;

• Cara Dubaskas, of Plymouth, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to a time served sentence of 7 months;

• Chad Eckrote, of Plymouth, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 3 years of probation;

• Adam Gottstein, of Kingston, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 78 months’ imprisonment; and

• Amanda Romano, of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 84 months’ imprisonment.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Luzerne County Drug Task Force, and by the Kingston Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip J. Caraballo prosecuted the case.

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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