- A police chief in Pennsylvania was arrested and charged on Wednesday, the DOJ said.
- Shawn Denning is accused of dealing meth and cocaine over a 16-month period.
A police chief in Pennsylvania was arrested and charged with dealing meth and cocaine, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.
Shawn Denning, who led the Greensburg Police Department, is facing six federal charges linked to a series of drug deals prosecutors say he oversaw between June 2021 and October 2022.
Court documents seen by Insider allege that Denning worked with at least three sources to help a confidential informant source drugs from California and Arizona. The informant was secretly working with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The drugs, which included LSD, mushrooms, Ketamine, and Adderall, were then sent to the informant via mail, an affidavit said.
Denning and the informant exchanged messages on an app called Wickr, the affidavit said, noting that Denning said it was "how all the heavy hitters conduct business."
"It's encrypted so virtually impossible to be intercepted ever," he told the informant in one text exchange, according to the affidavit.
In another conversation, Denning sent the informant a "menu" which listed the products and prices of different drugs, the document said.
When the informant asked the police chief who to pay, Denning responded: "I don't sell anything man I just know folks is all. Dude will handle it all he's trustworthy," according to the affidavit.
Wickr allows users to exchange end-to-end encrypted and content-expiring messages, including photos and videos.
Denning was released on $250,000 bail Tuesday, per the documents seen by Insider.
Greensburg Mayor Robert Bell told USA Today on Wednesday that Denning "was no longer with" the department. The department did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.