CLEARFIELD – A Clearfield man arrested during “Operation Leaf Rake” was sentenced to state prison Monday in Clearfield County Court.
Zachary Albert Quigley, 30, 618 Armor St., Clearfield, an inmate of the jail, pleaded guilty to a felony count of manufacture/delivery/possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance-heroin and criminal conspiracy.
He was sentenced by President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman to one to five years in state prison. He must attend drug/alcohol counseling and submit to DNA testing at a cost of $250. He was fined $2 plus costs.
Quigley’s attorney, Matthew McClenahen, told the court prior to sentencing that Quigley’s problems stem from substance abuse. First he was an alcoholic, and then he switched to heroin, McClenahen explained. Instead of stealing to feed his habit, he sold drugs to other addicts, he added.
Senior Deputy Attorney General David Gorman, who prosecuted the case, noted Quigley was charged with four counts of delivery of a controlled substance but these were all combined into one count for the plea agreement. He stated that Quigley would have been given concurrent sentences on the other three counts anyway.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, Quigley sold heroin to undercover officers on April 5, 2013, April 26, 2013, May 6, 2013 and May 16, 2013.
Quigley was one of several people arrested last fall in “Operation Leaf Rake.” In a press release, District Attorney William A. Shaw Jr. said that these arrests were the positive results of an ongoing cooperative drug investigation in Clearfield County.
Shaw said this comprehensive investigation, coordinated by the Clearfield County District Attorney’s Office and the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, Bureau of Narcotics Investigation (State College Office), focused on street and mid-level drug dealers. Many of the suspects were selling the controlled substances on the streets, in parking lots, in local establishments, and in apartments and houses throughout the County.
Most of these cases were part of a grand jury investigation.