Mon Valley drug dealer resentenced after winning appeal
A Washington County man who investigators called a drug kingpin in the Mon Valley was resentenced Thursday by a Washington County judge after winning an appeal with the Superior Court.
Daniel Young, 43, of Nottingham Township, appeared by video before Common Pleas Judge John F. DiSalle. DiSalle, after hearing testimony from Young and family members, resentenced Young to 4 to 8 years in prison followed by 2 years of probation.
Young was originally sentenced to 12 to 24 years in prison on 36 drug charges by now-retired Washington County Judge Janet Moschetta Bell after his 2011 conviction. He was charged after selling cocaine to a police informant on nine occasions.
His attorneys, Caroline Roberto and Amy DiBella, filed an appeal with the state Superior Court after sentencing policy changes were made in Pennsylvania in 2013.
“The mandatory sentence is no longer constitutional,” Roberto said.
Young won the appeal in April, and the case was sent back to Washington County for resentencing.
Roberto argued Young “learned his lesson,” and made strides to better himself while serving the last 4 1/2 years at State Correctional Institution-Mercer.
“The last 4 1/2 years have had a profound impact on my life,” Young said in court. “The positive realization of this is how important my family is to me.”
Assistant District Attorney Jerry Moschetta argued DiSalle should have upheld Moschetta Bell’s ruling. He said Young had the opportunity to accept a plea bargain for 4 to 8 year but “did not want to accept responsibility” and decided to go to trial.
“Young rejected the plea bargain,” Moschetta said. “He should not be given the benefit of the bargain again.”
Once Young is paroled, Roberto said her client still faces roughly five years in a federal prison. A federal jury convicted Young in 2013 on four federal counts of conspiracy and structuring financial transactions. He was accused of making about a dozen cash deposits for approximately $9,000 each at branches of the Auto Workers Federal Credit Union, PNC Bank and National City Bank, later using the money to purchase two real estate properties, a pickup truck, a tractor and a front-end loader. The jury decided those two properties and three vehicles worth a combined $234,859 must be forfeited to the government.
Federal prosecutors alleged the cash used in those purchases came from Young’s nearly 20 years of drug dealing in Washington County.
His co-defendants in the federal case were given lighter sentences. Dennis Young, 48, of Monongahela, pleaded guilty to one charge and was sentenced to two years of probation and a $2,000 fine. The other co-defendant, Kimberly Ostrander, 50, of Aleppo Township, also pleaded guilty to one charge and was sentenced to two years of probation.