Date: December 27, 2023 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Pittsburgh, PA — A resident of Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to 60 months of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release on her convictions for violating federal narcotics and firearms laws related to a nine-month Title III wiretap investigation into drug trafficking in and around the counties of Jefferson, Clearfield, and Allegheny, United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced today. United States District Judge Christy Criswell Wiegand imposed the sentence on Kristy Lepionka. According to information presented to the court, Lepionka received parcels that were shipped from California to the Western District of Pennsylvania containing a total of between 5 kilograms and 15 kilograms of methamphetamine. Investigators searched Lepionka's residence on August 31, 2021, pursuant to a federal search warrant and seized over a small amount of methamphetamine and a firearm, which Lepionka is prohibited from possessing due to a prior felony conviction. Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan D. Lusty prosecuted this case on behalf of the government. United States Attorney Olshan commended the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (CI), Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, United States Postal Service – Office of Inspector General, United States Postal Inspection Service, Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, Allegheny County Police, and Pennsylvania State Police. Also assisting were the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office, Clearfield County District Attorney's Office, and the Clarion Borough Police Department for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Lepionka. 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, multiagency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks. 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. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
