28/22 NEWS (WBRE/WYOU) — Northeastern Pennsylvania is no stranger to crime; our region has seen its share of all types of crimes in recent years.
Tonight, the I-Team's Andy Mehalshick sits down with the District Attorneys from the two largest counties in NEPA... Sam Sanguedolce from Luzerne County and Brian Gallagher from Lackawanna County.
Crime is an issue in virtually every community in the nation and here in northeastern Pennsylvania.
The I-team's Andy Mehalshick sat down with the district attorneys of NEPA's two largest counties to talk about their efforts to fight that crime.
They had a lot to say about the progress they feel is being made preventing crimes involving drugs and they were also very candid about what they say is a growing problem: gun violence.
"That's really the biggest issue that we're facing in Lackawanna County, Scranton in particular, is gun violence and gun violence with younger juveniles," emphasized Brian Gallagher, Lackawanna County District Attorney.
I sat down this week with Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce and Lackawanna County District Attorney Brian Gallagher.
They say crime knows no boundaries, especially when it comes to gun violence.
"The biggest thing we're seeing right now, because you see the number of shootings, the amount of gun violence. We're learning that these guns are getting on the street because of straw purchases," explained Sam Sanguedolce, Luzerne County District Attorney.
A straw purchase occurs when a person who can legally buy a gun does so, but then gives it to a person who is not legally allowed to possess a gun.
Sanguedolce and Gallagher also tell me that drug dealing, specifically fentanyl, continues to be a challenge.
"Generally we thought fentanyl was just being mixed with heroin. We're not seeing heroin in Lackawanna county, we're just seeing fentanyl. Heroin is almost obsolete. What people are being arrested for or found with is fentanyl," stated District Attorney Gallagher.
And both prosecutors say the so called "Dark web" looms large in NEPA.
"We're now starting to get a idea what goes on out on the dark web, how it operates and I can tell you it's very difficult for police to infiltrate and trace and when we monitor, we see there are open sites that sell large amounts of fentanyl, large amounts of other illegal substance, illegal firearms right down to human organs being sold openly on the dark web," explained District Attorney Sanguedolce.
Sanguedolce and Gallagher tell me that many of these crimes are being prevented or solved because of cooperation among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.
