Date: March 13, 2025
Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov
Johnstown, PA — A resident of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was sentenced in federal court to 50 months in prison, to be followed by four years of supervised release, on his conviction of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine, Acting United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced today.
United States District Judge Marilyn J. Horan imposed the sentence on Joshua Edmonds. According to information presented to the Court, from in and around February 2021 to in and around April 2021, in the Western District of Pennsylvania, Edmonds conspired with others to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of a mixture of fentanyl, 50 grams or more of a mixture of methamphetamine, and a quantity of a mixture of heroin. Edmonds was intercepted on a federal wiretap obtaining quantities of the drugs that he distributed to other members of the drug organization in Johnstown.
Assistant United States Attorney Maureen Sheehan-Balchon prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
Acting United States Attorney Rivetti commended the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Laurel Highlands Resident Agency and Homeland Security Investigations for the investigation that led to the successful prosecution of Edmonds. Additional agencies participating in the investigation included the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, United States Postal Inspection Service, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, Pennsylvania State Police, Cambria County District Attorney’s Office, Indiana County District Attorney’s Office, Cambria County Sheriff’s Office, Cambria Township Police Department, Indiana Borough Police Department, Johnstown Police Department, Upper Yoder Township Police Department, Richland Police Department, Ferndale Police Department, and other local law enforcement agencies.
This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.