Cocaine dealer faces decades in prison
Jamie Lightfoot Jr., whose Penn Hills house served as the collection and distribution center for what prosecutors have described as the largest cocaine ring in Western Pennsylvania history, admitted Thursday that he is a drug dealer.
He pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to distribute narcotics and possession of a gun — specifically an Uzi — in furtherance of drug trafficking.
The son of a convicted Donora drug dealer, Mr. Lightfoot, 27, and his brother Deaubre distributed huge amounts of cocaine throughout Western Pennsylvania that had been shipped to Mr. Lightfoot’s Penn Hills home from Los Angeles and Atlanta, prosecutors said.
The supplier was Don Juan Mendoza of Jacksonville, Fla., according to the FBI. Mendoza is under indictment. Deaubre Lightfoot’s case is pending.
A two- year wiretap investigation by the FBI and state police revealed that ring members drove cocaine to Penn Hills from California in a recreational vehicle on multiple occasions. They also drove drugs to the house from Atlanta using a distinctive van imprinted with the image of Mendoza’s wife, a rapper who uses the stage name Sno- Cold.
Mr. Lightfoot said nothing in court except to answer U. S. District Judge Mark Hornak’s questions. Asked how he was pleading, he said, “Guilty, your honor.” The judge said he’d sentence him in January, and U. S. marshals took him away.
Under the law, Mr. Lightfoot could receive up to life in federal prison because of the sheer volume of drugs shipped into the Pittsburgh area. For the purposes of his plea, he admitted to distributing at least 50 kilograms but not more than 150 kilograms.
Law enforcement officers had said they had known for years that Mr. Lightfoot was a major cocaine dealer, and they slowly built a case based on tapped cellphones, pole cameras and surveillance.
The investigation came to a head on Nov. 5, 2017, when agents and troopers who had been tracking the RV cross- country watched it pull into 146 Harvest Drive in a secluded part of Penn Hills.
They swept in to make arrests and conduct searches of the RV and the house that turned up 52 kilograms of cocaine, 85 pounds of marijuana and two guns, including an AK- 47, and some $ 1 million in cash.
Mr. Lightfoot, his brother and Mendoza had been among some 40 people indicted as part of the case, several of whom have also pleaded guilty. They include a former teacher in the Ringgold School District who helped distribute drugs and a former
Donora cement plant worker who let his home be used as a stash house.
The latest admission came Wednesday when Chace Johnson, 21, of Donora, entered a plea to maintaining a drug- involved premises.
Assistant U. S. Attorney Tim Lanni said Mr. Johnson had been guarding Mr. Lightfoot’s house in August and September 2017, protecting the drug money hidden there and helping gather paraphernalia and supplies to aid in the distribution of drugs.
Judge Hornak will sentence him in December.
Much of the cocaine brought into Pittsburgh ended up being sold in Fayette County.
The case against Mendoza is pending. A convicted drug dealer, he had ties to Mexican cartels and connections in California, Florida and Georgia, according to the FBI.