A Churchill man who federal officials said had hundreds of thousands of doses of fentanyl he planned to traffic in the Pittsburgh area will serve 21 years in prison.
Leon C. Ford Sr., 58, was sentenced on Wednesday by Senior U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab.
A jury found Ford guilty of two counts, including conspiracy to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine and 400 grams or more of fentanyl between March and September 2021, as well as one count of possession with intent to deliver more than 400 grams of fentanyl.
According to a filing by the U.S. Attorney’s office in the case, the weight of fentanyl Ford was responsible for would be enough for 506,500 lethal doses.
“Cocaine and fentanyl are deadly controlled substances that have had a devastating impact on the community. Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. Just two milligrams of fentanyl, the equivalent of 10-15 grains of salt, is considered a lethal dose,” the government wrote.
According to the government, three of Ford’s cell phone were wiretapped by federal investigators and revealed a complex organization.
“The intercepts from the wiretap showed that the defendant was guarded in his discussions regarding controlled substances, but he felt that Pittsburgh ‘is the city that everyone is trying to plug into, and I can make it happen,’” the government wrote, quoting one of the wiretaps.
Prosecutors alleged during the September trial that Ford used a stash house to hide the drugs and that he was a leader of the organization. A search warrant at Ford’s home resulted in the recovery of more than $240,000 in cash.
He was charged along with five co-defendants. Four co-defendants pleaded guilty, while one had the charges dismissed by the government.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Ford previously served a separate 12-year federal prison sentence on drug charges.
“Rather than learning his lesson and ceasing to participate in drug trafficking, he learned to be more covert, speak in code, drop cell phones, use a stash house, perform counter-surveillance, and make additional attempts to avoid law enforcement detection. It appears as though a 160-month sentence was not significant enough to deter the defendant from his illegal act,” according to the government.
For his part, Ford asked for less severe sentence based on a variety of medical conditions. The sentencing guidelines called for 210 to 262 months incarceration.
Ford recounted a litany of concerns, including having had three strokes, two heart attacks, a triple bypass, seven stents and four balloons.
“Fifteen years is like life for me,” he said. “I don’t hold no anger toward nobody. I hold anger toward myself for going down the wrong path.”
Defense attorney Fred Rabner described his client as beloved, kind, generous, loyal, brave and sincere, but also stubborn, proud and hard-headed.
Ford’s son, Leon Ford Jr., also spoke. Ford Jr. became well known as an advocate for improving relations between the police and Pittsburghers after city police shot and paralyzed him in 2012.
He called his father “a pillar in our family,” who encouraged him to make a difference after he was paralyzed.
“‘Do you want to make a point or do you want to make a difference?’” his dad asked him.
“His love and encouragement really sustained me,” said Ford Jr., a co-founder of the Hear Foundation along with Scott Schubert a former Pittsburgh police chief.
Ford Jr. asked Schwab to show his father mercy given his medical conditions.
“I’m asking for compassion and some grace,” he said. “I don’t believe he’s deserving of a death sentence.”
But Schwab was not swayed, noting that Ford was running a large-scale, multistate drug trafficking ring.
“Drugs, especially fentanyl, are killing 10,000 persons per year and ruining the lives of countless others,” Schwab said. “It is unfortunate but clear the substantial time in federal prison did nothing to dissuade the defendant.”