Ringleader of Drug Organization Sentenced
Erie – In the US Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Quintin Pinkins of Farrel was sentenced to 19 years in prison with an additional six years probation after pleading guilty to several felonies related to drug trafficking. Pinkins was the Ringleader of a drug distribution network that sold fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine all across Northwest Pennsylvania, from Mercer County to Erie County. He and 25 other members of his organization were arrested in a series of raids by local police, FBI, DEA, and PSP earlier this year.

Zappala Seeks Death Sentence in Child Murder Case
Pittsburgh – In State News, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappalla filed a notice that he will seek the death penalty for a San Diego woman accused of killing a 6-week-old baby in Pittsburgh. In June, 30-year-old Nicole Virzi was charged with homicide in the death of Leon Kutz after an autopsy determined he was killed through abuse, Virzi claims Leon fell from his bassinet. Leon was left in her care after his parents took his twin brother to the hospital for treatment of an injury that physicians believe Virzi may have also caused.
Virzi was a friend of Leon’s parents who came to visit the family and their newborn twin boys in June; during her stay, she showed a wound on Leon’s brother’s leg to her parents who took the child to the hospital while Virzi agreed to take care of the other baby. Virzi claims that she was making a bottle for Leon in the kitchen when he fell out of his bascinet and hit his head on the ground, but the results of Leon’s autopsy showed his fatal injuries were not consistent with a fall. Physicians also say that the injuries suffered by Leon’s brother could not have been caused by an accident either. Zappalla has charged Virzi with killing Leon and injury his twin.