HARRISBURG — Attorney General Dave Sunday announced that the leader of a Blair County drug-trafficking organization, and two of his cohorts, were sentenced to state prison for their roles in a Baltimore-sourced trafficking network that distributed cocaine and other drugs at local bars and clubs.
Rickey “Rizz” Sharief Joyner, 45, of Altoona, was sentenced to 14 to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of corrupt organizations, 21 counts of possession with intent to deliver, two counts of dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, voluntary manslaughter, and other charges.
The voluntary manslaughter conviction stems from the November 2022 overdose death of a Blair County resident in which Joyner supplied the victim with fentanyl under the guise that it was Oxycodone.
“Ricky Joyner and his criminal enterprise brought deadly drugs into the Blair County region to line their pockets by exploiting addictions,” Attorney General Sunday said. “This resolution takes that into account, along with the death that we could link to Joyner.”
The sentencings happened Tuesday in a Blair County courtroom.
Co-defendant Matthew Rodriguez, 40, of Altoona, was sentenced to 5 to 10 years in prison after a Blair County jury convicted him of corrupt organizations, possession with intent to deliver/delivery, conspiracy to possession with intent to deliver, and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities.
Co-defendant Kirsten Wright, 36, of Altoona, was sentenced to 2 to 4 years in prison after pleading guilty to possession with intent to deliver, conspiracy to possess with intent to deliver, and criminal use of a communication facility.
The Office of Attorney General’s Bureau of Narcotics Investigations, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Blair County Drug Task Force, and the Blair County District Attorney’s Office began investigating the criminal organization in early 2023. Using controlled buys, search warrants, payment-app records, and witness testimony, investigators identified Joyner as the group’s supplier and linked him to the fatal fentanyl overdose.
During the execution of a search warrant in Aug. 2024 at Wright’s residence, which Joyner was using as a stash house, Joyner instructed Wright to “flush everything.” Bags of cocaine, a cell phone with the text message, “Flush Everything”, and other trafficking paraphernalia were, as a result, thrown from a window.
These cases were prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General David Gorman of the Attorney General’s Drug Strike Force Section and Blair County District Attorney Pete Weeks.
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