Ex-Head of Heroin Ring Gets More Time for Trying to Sell Drugs in Jail

A former Quakertown-area drug dealer who is serving a state prison sentence for running a drug network authorities once said left the borough and much of Upper Bucks County “awash with heroin” has received additional time in state prison for trying to sell drugs behind bars.

Sheamus Patrick McCarthy, 29, of Richland Township, Bucks County, pleaded guilty Monday to soliciting contraband, attempted possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, criminal use of a communication facility and other charges related to a pair of letters he sent from jail soliciting Suboxone strips and synthetic marijuana, the Bucks County District Attorney’s office announced in a Crimewatch post Friday.

“The letters to McCarthy’s girlfriend and brother included coded references to drugs as ‘Flyers tickets’ and ‘Eagles tickets,’ contained smuggling instructions for the drugs and promised hefty profits,” the DA’s office said.

The letters were intercepted by authorities at the Bucks County Correctional Facility in Doylestown.

“McCarthy penned the letters while awaiting trial last year on charges he led a prolific Upper Bucks heroin ring that distributed up to 2,800 bags of the deadly drug in Quakertown area on a weekly basis between 2013 and 2016,” the DA’s news release said. “The criminal enterprise earned $1 million annually at its peak, and eventually landed more than a dozen people in prison.”

Monday’s plea came as part of a negotiation by which McCarthy agreed to serve a one-to-two-year state prison sentence consecutive to the nine-and-a-half to 20 years he is already serving, it was announced.

“I wish I wouldn’t have done it,” McCarthy said. “It’s not worth the time.”

Judge Jeffrey L. Finley accepted the plea deal noting that whatever personal changes McCarthy must make to correct his behavior either will or will not occur during his long state prison stay.

As he is also serving time for probation violations, McCarthy is not expected to be released from state prison until at least 2029, the news release said.

The case was investigated by Bucks County detectives and prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney David A. Keightly.