The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

July 18, 2008

Drug, gun charges lead to 10-year prison term

By Joe Pinchot

FARRELL — Eric Savage came into Robert D. Major’s life when Major was 8.

“Good kid, excellent kid,” Savage said of Major, noting that although he is Major’s stepfather, he recognizes him as his son.

“He just got caught up with bad people,” Savage told U.S. District Court Judge Arthur J. Schwab.

As a result of falling in with the wrong crowd, Major was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison on drug and gun charges.

Major, 25, formerly of Wallis Avenue, Farrell, pleaded guilty May 5 to charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 50 or more grams of crack cocaine; possession with intent to distribute 5 or more grams of crack; and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

The gun charges came with a 5-year mandatory minimum prison term, and the requirement that other charges be served consecutively. Schwab sentenced Major to 5 years in prison for each of the drug charges — conspiracy and possession of crack cocaine — and ran them concurrently with each other and consecutively to the drug charge sentence.

Authorities alleged that Major sold an informant an ounce of crack for $2,200 June 24, 2007, at a home in Farrell and that a May 6, 2005 search of a home on Mesabi Street, Sharon — Major was arrested coming out of the back door — turned up cocaine, drug paraphernalia including a scale and bags, and a Ruger .22-caliber pistol. Police also said they found a bag with a small amount of cocaine on the ground where Major was arrested, and four .22-caliber bullets and a key to the house in his pocket.

Major’s girlfriend, Chante Odem, said the gun police found was hers, and she kept it for self-defense.

Major, known as “Punchie,” did not admit to possessing the gun, but having the bullets was sufficient for the charges, said Major’s attorney, Stephen G. Delpero of New Wilmington.

Ms. Odem said Major got into drugs because he could not find a job and she was unlikely to find a job doing what she was going to school for. To get away from the drug culture of the Shenango Valley, they moved to North Carolina to start over. She said she found a job first and he was looking when he was arrested on the federal charges.

Major has “behaved” as a father to her son, Ms. Odem said.

“He made me a better person,” she said.

Major ran into drug trouble in the Navy, Delpero said.

“What happened in the Navy, I have no idea,” said Major’s grandfather, who refused to give his name. “I know he was a good boy before he went to the Navy — real good boy.”

Major apologized to his family and fiends “for all the trouble I’ve caused,” and thanked them for standing beside him during his case.

Delpero, who asked for a 3-year sentence on the drug charges, said Major had been “candid” about his role in the drug investigation, did not evade responsibility and was only a “peripheral player.”

He also said government allegations that Major ran the Atlanta drug operations of Robert D. “Doodie” Shannonhouse, 37, formerly of Farrell, are “patently untrue.”

“Mr. Major’s never been to Atlanta,” Delpero said.

Schwab also sentenced Major to 5 years of supervised release.

Shannonhouse is serving a 20-year sentence, and the third man indicted in the case, Henry A. “Stink Lowe” Bruce, 28, formerly of Sharon, is serving 10 years.

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