CLEARFIELD – Clearfield County District Attorney Ryan Sayers has announced his intention to seek a second term in office.
Sayers was sworn-in as District Attorney in January of 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world.
Sayers was able to clear the backlog of cases that were inherited upon taking office. Additionally, he worked to efficiently get cases through the system that were stalled due to the COVID shutdown once the courts fully reopened in June of 2020.
This was different from many counties in the Commonwealth that remained closed longer and had cases that were lingering in the system.
Also in regards to COVID, Sayers agreed not to prosecute local businesses for reopening early under then-Gov. Tom Wolf’s selective and arbitrary shutdown of the Commonwealth.
Over the past three years, Sayers and his assistants have overseen and handled in excess of 1,300 cases per year, with more than a dozen being homicides and attempted homicides.
This included the conviction and life sentence for Denny Bailey for the heinous murder of a young man from Curwensville.
It is also noteworthy that substantially more of this large caseload picked juries and went to trial compared to prior years.
Additionally, during Sayers’ tenure as District Attorney, he has worked on restoring the relationship with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Attorney General’s Office, ATF, DEA and Pennsylvania State Police Troop C Vice Unit.
These relationships have paid major dividends for the people of Clearfield County. In the last few years, Clearfield County has been involved in two major interstate federal drug operations (Operation Crystal Highway and Operation Return to Sender), that shutdown drug pipelines that were regularly bringing large quantities of methamphetamine, fentanyl, heroin, and marijuana into the county.
As a result of some of these arrests, as well as working with municipal police departments in the county, Sayers has been able to have over $125,000 dollars of drug money forfeited to the Commonwealth.
In Pennsylvania, through the civil forfeiture process, the District Attorney can ask the court to grant ownership of drug-related money to the Commonwealth, instead of giving it back to the drug user or dealer.
This money can be used at the discretion of the DA, and a portion of it has been used to purchase a drug-testing hood for the City of DuBois Police Department, to finish the qualification range for the Clearfield Regional Police Department, to buy equipment for drug-related investigations and to provide multiple specialized trainings for officers across the county.
Also, under Sayers’ leadership, he filed a lawsuit in 2020 on behalf of the people of Clearfield County in regard to the opioid crisis.
This was in addition to the lawsuit that was previously filed by the County Commissioners. Last year a settlement was reached with the major drug manufacturers, which resulted in the DA’s Office getting nearly $600,000 over the next 18 years, and the Clearfield County Commissioners getting $2.7 million.
This money is to be used for drug treatment and addiction related programming, as well as fighting back against the drug crisis.
As for these drug treatment and addiction related programs, Sayers worked with the Pennsylvania Attorney General and the Clearfield Jefferson Drug and Alcohol Commission to start a Law Enforcement Treatment Initiative (LETI) in Clearfield County.
This program gives people the opportunity to contact police and refer themselves or a loved one to get help with drug addiction.
Or if a person is charged with a minor drug or drug-related crime and is a first-time offender (not a drug dealer), then they can put the criminal case on hold at a preliminary hearing level to get supervised drug treatment.
In essence it is a Drug Court-lite at the preliminary hearing level. “This program is another tool in the toolbox for addressing the drug epidemic,” said Sayers.
“However, it should be in addition to and not a substitution for a full Drug Court Program at the Court of Common Pleas, which is still awaiting approval of the Court.”
In addition to his duties and responsibilities as District Attorney, Sayers gives back to the community by serving on the executive boards of the Bucktail Council (Boy Scouts of America), Good Samaritan Center, Clearfield YMCA and Clearfield Arts Studio Theatre (CAST).
Sayers also is a Boy Scout merit badge counselor and speaker for the Life Fast Forward Program through the Greater Clearfield Chamber of Commerce.
Sayers is the son of Paul and Therese Sayers of Frenchville. He is a parishioner of and cantor at St. Francis Church, member of the Clearfield Choral Society and an avid outdoorsman that enjoys hiking, camping, kayaking and hunting.
Sayers said that, “it has been an honor to serve as your District Attorney over the last three-plus years. I respectfully ask for your vote, so that I can continue to serve you and the people of Clearfield County for another term.”