AG Shapiro debuts strategic effort in McKeesport; agents, local police shut down drug trafficking ring

By KRISTIE LINDEN
klinden@yourmvi.com

When Pennsylvania attorney general agents arrested an Elizabeth Township man last Friday, the bust took 3,000 doses of heroin off the streets.
To Attorney General Josh Shapiro, those were 3,000 chances for someone to die that are gone.
“It’s 3,000 chances to kill someone here in the Mon Valley and it’s off the streets now,” Shapiro said. “We’re seeing 14 people die every day in Pennsylvania of drug overdoses, primarily of fentanyl and heroin.”
Franklin Gribschaw, 42, of Ridge Road posted $50,000 bond the same day as his arrest. He is charged with endangering the welfare of children, possession of a firearm with an altered serial number, possession of drug paraphernalia, two counts of criminal use of a cell phone, 13 felony counts of possession of controlled substance with intent to deliver and eight counts of possession of a controlled substance.
During a press conference Wednesday morning in McKeesport, Shapiro discussed Gribschaw’s arrest because it was part of a three-week partnership between his office, the McKeesport and Elizabeth Township police departments and District Attorney’s Narcotics Enforcement Team to shut down a drug trafficking enterprise in McKeesport.
Shapiro said he knows that a lot of people like to talk about confiscated drugs in terms of weight, but he prefers his department talk about the number of individual doses.
Shapiro said it’s so people understand how much harm could have been done to their neighborhoods if the drug dealers had been permitted to stay active. He looks at the 3,000 heroin doses that are now in police custody as 3,000 potential opportunities to get people help from human services.
“Gribschaw was one of the ringleaders, one of the people bringing the poisons, particularly crystal meth, into our neighborhoods,” Shapiro said. “(He’s) off the streets now, but it’s not done, there is still work to do.”
Officers also found six unsecured guns in the house, where Shapiro said a child was also living.
“A little kid had to live amongst all that,” Shapiro said. “That’s what’s happening behind some of the doors here in McKeesport and we are tired of it. Drug rings like the one we took down last week, they don’t care about the borders between townships and counties.
“That’s why partnerships like this, here in the Mon Valley, are so important to us. So we launch operations like this one, to make arrests, to hold people accountable, to make the neighborhoods safer for everyone who lives in the community,” Shapiro said. “We target those individuals at the top, the ones who are behind the violence, the ones who benefit most from filling our streets with these poisons.”
In addition to the 3,000 heroin doses, officers found three shot guns, two rifles, a handgun, $6,500 in cash and more than $50,000 in substances including fentanyl and methamphetamine.
The new partnership, launched just this month, is called the Region V Strategic Response Team and so far, the team’s agents have made 12 arrests and executed five search warrants with local law enforcement partners.
The search warrant, signed by McKeesport Magisterial District Judge Eugene Riazzi, that led to Gribschaw’s arrest was part of that effort. McKeesport Detective Steve Kondrosky joined Attorney General Agent Rich Castagna in writing the affidavit of probable cause that led to Gribschaw’s charges.
“Over the last several weeks I can tell you these men from the SRT program and our men and women from the McKeesport Police Department have worked very hard, day in and day out,” said McKeesport police Chief Adam Alfer. “Our goal here in McKeesport is to make it a safer place for our residents to live and it starts with taking down the drug trafficking and the violence.”
In addition to the guns and heroin, officers found 461 grams of crystal meth worth more than $46,000, 9 grams of cocaine, 50 grams of MDMA, individual doses of Xanax and drug paraphernalia.
During a press conference Wednesday morning, Shapiro said members of the Strategic Response Team were out in McKeesport at that moment working on another operation targeting drug traffickers.
“I have to tell you something. I am done — done — hearing about how McKeesport is one of the most dangerous cities in America,” Shapiro said. “I refuse to accept that as a new normal for McKeesport.
“I refuse to accept that this is going to be a dangerous town forever. No one

To read the rest of the story, please see a copy of Thursday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.

Courtesy of the Attorney General’s Office
Authorities from McKeesport and the Attorney General’s Office seized nine guns and tens of thousands of dollars with of drugs from a McKeesport residence.

Franklin Gribschaw