A large-scale methamphetamine ring that was centered in Clearfield County reached into Erie County with its distribution and its leadership .
One of the two defendants accused of running the ring is an Erie resident, John C. Bisbee, 44, also known as “Country” or “Mike.”
The scope of the meth ring and Bisbee’s involvement in it became clear at his sentencing in U.S. District Court in Johnstown, where the case was prosecuted.
Bisbee, who pleaded conspiracy and other charges in June, was ordered to serve 21 years in federal prison and five years of supervised release on Wednesday. He also must forfeit $305,000 in cash as well as jewelry and two handguns and 101 round of ammunition, all of which authorities seized during the probe, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Pittsburgh.
Bisbee, who had lived in the 100 block of Hill Road, was indicted in June 2020 on charges that he helped lead an operation that moved kilograms of meth from Mexico through Atlanta then to Erie for distribution across northern and northcentral counties in Pennsylvania and into New York, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The office said the conspiracy spanned from July 2019 until the indictment was returned a year later.