The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Ernest Schaeffer, age 43, of Schuylkill Haven, was sentenced on July 2, 2019, by U.S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion to 15 years’ imprisonment followed by five years on supervised release for participating in a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy.
According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, Schaeffer previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine between June and October 2016.
Judge Mannion explained that he imposed a sentence above the advisory guidelines range because during the course of the drug conspiracy Schaeffer held a woman captive for three days in a shed on his property and tortured her with electric shocks and a stun gun.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Pennsylvania State Police, and local police in Schuylkill County. Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.