CLEARFIELD – The second day of the Operation Drive Thru trial saw more than just Richard Smeal testify about cocaine movement to and in the Clearfield area.
Tara Swatsworth testified that she knew Bean, aka Maharaji Hemingway. She said he would put together 1 gram bags for Jake Pittman, also listed in the Grand Jury indictment, to sell. She said they sold it for $90-$100/bag. She said they did some and shared some.
She testified that she and Smeal went to Philly to meet up with Bean. She said they arrived, she got into another car with Bean, and she talked to him about being able to trust Smeal; she said he was initially concerned about whether he could trust him. She said they had sex, she got an 8-ball and Smeal was fronted an ounce. She said she they used the 8-ball on the way back to Clearfield and that she saw Smeal sell the other amount of cocaine after it was broken down. She then gave a list of names she saw him sell to.
She also said she was with people who went into Michael Styers’ home and came out with cocaine.
She said she later had contact with Bean, and attempted to set up a meeting with him and Agent Dave Jordan. That fell through, however.
She also identified Hemingway in the courtroom as Bean, and as Hodge, another name she came to know him by.
Another witness, Jane Gearhart, said she took her (late) son and Pittman to Styers to purchase cocaine and Oxycontin. She said they went there multiple times. She testified that she would drop Pittman off, he would go to a house, and came back out with drugs. She indicated she saw him go to a house, but she didn’t see him enter it. When provided with a photo of Styers’ house, she was unable to directly identify it. She also testified that cars were not allowed to park on South Fifth Street, but in the photos, there were cars on the street.
Robert Charles also testified about buying drugs from both Michael Styers and Charles Gearhart. He testified that he knew styers prior to 2004 through a friend. He said in 2004, however, he was working and saw Styers walk by. He said he called out to Styers, they talked, and he ended up going to Styers’ house.
“I wanted to do a load of cocaine,” said Charles. He said Styers just gave it to him that time. He testified there were days where he would buy cocaine from Smeal. He also said he stayed in contact with Styers and bought cocaine from him about twice a week, mostly half-grams. Charles said he purchased from Gearhart for about 3-3.5 years. Charles said he also purchased cocaine from Gearhart at Gearhart’s trailer, as well as at his own home and Styers’.
In all, Charles said he made about 100 purchases from Styers, and 75-100 from Gearhart.
He was also asked if he was promised anything for his cooperation. He said he talked to Chief Deputy Rob Snyder at the Grand Jury and Snyder told him he wouldn’t be charged if he told the truth.
Under cross, he testified that he was asked how he got his money to buy drugs. He said anywhere he could.
“I’m a con artist.”
He also testified that he had memory issues to to medical issues and medications, as well as years of drug abuse. He was asked whether anyone went over what his testomony was going to be. He indicated he met with Deputy AG Dave Gorman and Johnson to go over his testimony.