Butler dealer gets 57 mos. in prison for drug ring role

A judge sent a Butler County man originally from Philadelphia to prison for 57 months for distributing fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and crack as part of a Philadelphia-to-Butler drug ring dismantled by state troopers and the Pittsburgh FBI.

U.S. District Judge Robert Colville imposed that term Thursday on Ricardo Glenn, 28, who was under court supervision for offenses in Philadelphia when he moved to Butler and started dealing drugs in 2019, federal prosecutors said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Haller said Glenn sold drugs for ringleader Qureem Overton, of Philadelphia, who had moved to Butler and set up a drug pipeline with other dealers from his hometown. Glenn was one of them.

Between 2017 and 2020, state police and the FBI set up controlled and undercover buys from Overton and the other dealers who worked for him, including Glenn. The buys from Glenn all occurred inside or near the city of Butler, Mr. Haller said. In all, law officers conducted at least 15 buys from him between November 2019 and June. Most of the buys were made by an undercover trooper and arranged through direct communications with Overton, Mr. Haller said.

Several of the transactions occurred within 1,000 feet of playgrounds and schools in Butler.

Agents and police arrested Glenn at a Holiday Inn Express in Butler on June 24 and found fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and $7,482 in cash in the room.

Mr. Haller said Glenn is responsible for distributing 32 grams of fentanyl, 80 grams of heroin, 8 grams of acetyl fentanyl, 100 grams of cocaine and 22.4 grams of cocaine base.

Glenn’s lawyer, Ryan Smith, said his client is a drug addict and asked for leniency. Glenn is a Pittsburgh native but grew up in an area of Philadelphia where most of his peers were involved in crime.

The case against Overton is pending.