Former Greensburg police chief Shawn Denning was sentenced Thursday to 15 months in federal prison in a drug distribution conspiracy case that derailed the military veteran’s career and left the community in shock.
U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Bissoon called Denning’s actions egregious.
“You betrayed the duties of a police officer and the public trust,” she said. “You should be thankful I’ve not sentenced you to a much longer period of incarceration.”
Upon hearing the prison sentence, Denning looked back at six supporters in the courtroom with him. He will remain free on bond until instructed to surrender, the judge ruled. He also was sentenced to two years of supervised release after his release from prison.
Denning’s January 2023 arrest at Greensburg City Hall resulted in his resignation from the post he had held for about a year. Denning, 44, of Delmont, had been with the department since 2008 and rose through the ranks to become chief.
He pleaded guilty in April 2024 to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine.
Denning is accused of communicating with a government informant starting in July 2021 and connecting that person with drug dealers in California to buy cocaine and methamphetamine, according to the original complaint filed in January 2023 in federal court in Pittsburgh by the Drug Enforcement Administration. That would continue for 15 months, according to court papers.
The complaint included conversations between Denning and the informant on smartphone apps where Denning is accused of providing contact information for the out-of-state suppliers and a “menu” of their available drugs, as well as how to transmit money to them electronically.
Denning vouched for the suppliers, and the DEA provided the informant with money to place orders, according to the complaint. The mailed packages that were confiscated contained drugs, authorities said.
In court filings last week, Denning’s attorney sought no jail time, but rather comunity-based supervision and rehabilitation, partly because of safety issues that may arise because of his law enforcement past. Denning pointed to post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his service as a Marine in Iraq as a contributing factor in his actions, according to a letter he wrote to the court.
Meanwhile, prosecutors asked in a sentencing memorandum Denning be required to serve “a reasonable sentence of incarceration.”
Investigators said Denning helped one of his former subordinates, Regina McAtee, who was a Greensburg police officer, get methamphetamine pills online and then he would buy some from her once the order arrived. McAtee, 52, of New Kensington, was suspended in 2022 and retired the following year. She pleaded guilty in May 2024 to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
McAtee is scheduled for sentencing May 27.
Denning is awaiting court action in a case filed by Westmoreland County detectives in connection with a backpack containing suspected steroids and psilocybin mushrooms that was missing from the Greensburg police evidence room.