Overbrook woman who laundered drug money sentenced

The girlfriend of a marijuana dealer who flooded college campuses with pot was sentenced Thursday to a day in custody and three years of probation for laundering drug money.

U. S. District Judge David Cercone imposed that term on Holly Shrum, 30, of Overbrook, who had admitted that she helped her boyfriend, Christopher Schanck, launder his marijuana cash at Rivers Casino, according to federal agents.

Schanck, of Overbrook, and his brother Ryan, of Las Vegas, were the targets of a multiyear investigation run by the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the IRS and police in Pittsburgh and the borough of Indiana, Pa.

Agents said the brothers conspired to distribute hundreds of pounds of marijuana on Pennsylvania campuses, particularly Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

The Schancks arranged for pot to be mailed from the West Coast to Pittsburgh from 2012 to 2017. Once here, they distributed it at IUP and other colleges across the region.

Christopher Schanck laundered more than $ 250,000 in drug money, according to the IRS. As part of his plea with federal prosecutors, he admitted to conspiracy to distribute between 100 and 400 kilos of pot.

The investigation began when agents discovered that Schanck and Shrum were laundering money at the casino in March 2012. They would insert $ 20 bills into a gaming machine in increments of $ 500. Then they cashed out the vouchers. But they never did any gambling.

Agents began an investigation into the source of the money that led to the pot operation.

Christopher Schanck is serving five years in federal prison; Ryan Schanck was sentenced to 71 months.