Date: October 27, 2022 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov PITTSBURGH — Michel Cercone was sentenced to 151 months in prison for conspiring to distribute Schedule I and II controlled substances, and to launder drug trafficking proceeds, between 2017 and 2019, United States Attorney Cindy K. Chung announced today. Cercone, of Sewickley, Pennsylvania, was sentenced by United States District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan. Cercone was also ordered to serve four years of supervised release following her prison sentence. Cercone was convicted at the conclusion of a jury trial in December 2021. She was responsible for the distribution of at least five kilograms of cocaine, 1,000 oxycodone pills, and synthetic cannabinoid controlled substances saturated into paper which was sent into prisons in 2017 and 2018. Assistant United States Attorneys Rebecca L. Silinski and Craig W. Haller prosecuted this case on behalf of the United States. The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, the federal Bureau of Prisons, and the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General led the multi-agency investigation that also included the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Beaver County District Attorney's Office, the Department of Homeland Security/Homeland Security Investigations, the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, the United States Marshals Service, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Munhall Police Department, the Robinson Township Police Department, the McKees Rocks Police Department, the Stowe Township Police Department, the Etna Police Department, and the Erie County District Attorney's Office. This prosecution is a result of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles high-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten communities throughout the United States. OCDETF uses a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
