September 27, 2019- Commonwealth v. Ralph L. Robertson:  A repeat heroin dealer will spend the next eight years in behind bars according to the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office.

Dauphin County Judge Deborah E. Curcillo sentenced Ralph L. Roberson yesterday to eight to sixteen years in state prison for his role in distributing heroin and fentanyl in Harrisburg in April and May of 2017.  Roberson was found guilty by a Dauphin County jury in August of selling heroin on two different days in April 2017, and of possessing a large quantity of fentanyl and cocaine with the intent to deliver it in May 2017.

During the sentencing hearing Deputy District Attorney Ryan P. Shovlin, who prosecuted the case for the Commonwealth, argued that Roberson should receive an enhanced sentence for possessing and attempting to profit from the sale of such a large quantity of fentanyl, an extremely dangerous drug. “Roberson profited from selling a dangerous—and often lethal—drug, and should be punished accordingly,” Shovlin said.

The investigation into Roberson began in April 2017 when he sold heroin to an undercover narcotics agent with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. Roberson again sold heroin to the undercover agent a few days later, and then made arrangements to transport a large quantity of fentanyl to Elizabethtown. A team of officers from Harrisburg City Police, the Office of Attorney General, and the Dauphin County Drug Task Force arrested Roberson on May 16, 2017, while Roberson was en route to Elizabethtown to deliver the drugs.  At the time of his arrest, Roberson possessed a large quantity of fentanyl and cocaine, as well as a pair of rubber gloves to handle the drugs.

According to Shovlin, Roberson sold heroin to the undercover agent a mere 14 days after he had been released from prison for a prior heroin sale. Roberson had been serving a state prison sentence for a prior drug deal in 2016, where police caught him with 180 bags of heroin hidden in his crotch.

Shovlin praised the coordinated efforts of the law enforcement agencies involved in this investigation. “Because of the dedicated efforts of several law enforcement officers, a repeat drug dealer is now off the streets.”