Youngstown man pleads guilty in fatal federal drug case

PITTSBURGH (WKBN) — A drug case playing out in federal court in Western Pennsylvania is coming to a close with a Youngstown man entering a guilty plea Tuesday.

Eliot Gentry, 27, pleaded guilty in U.S. Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania to charges of distributing fentanyl, fluorofentanyl, and cocaine. The charges also include distributing fentanyl resulting in death in connection to the death of a person from Mercer County on January 23, 2022.

Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 4.

The drug enterprise occurred from May 2021 to October 2022 when drugs were trafficked in Western Pennsylvania, according to prosecutors. At the time, investigators said the arrests of Gentry and six others disrupted a “violent drug trafficking organization.”

Josh Shapiro, who was attorney general at the time and now governor, said that the arrests were critical.

“The rise of fentanyl has ripped through Western Pennsylvania and our office is determined to hold those who profit from these narcotics accountable to the law,” he said.

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