A State Superior Court panel has rejected the appeals of three convicted drug dealers whose heroin ring reached into Indiana County.
The three-judge panel upheld the convictions of 48-year-old Massai Dixon and 42-year-old Ryan Baumgardner, who are both from Johnstown, and 29-year-old Krista Mader of Titusville, Venango County. All three were found guilty of a variety of drug offenses for a Pittsburgh-to-Johnstown apparatus that had customers across western Pennsylvania, in Indiana, Blair, Huntingdon, Allegheny, Cambria, Somerset, and Erie.
Thirty-three suspects were rounded up in “Operation Flood City Smackdown”, which was coordinated by the state Attorney General’s office and the Cambria County Drug Task Force in 2016. Sara Painter of Cheese Run Road in White Township was among those eventually convicted. She pleaded guilty to four felony drug offenses and was sentenced to concurrent prison terms for each, ranging from 16 months to 48 months, plus probation.
Curtis Harper of Pittsburgh was identified as the ring leader.
