by peter e. bortner
A Berks County man is headed to federal prison after being sentenced Wednesday in Scranton for distributing a prescription drug in Schuylkill and Berks counties.
Stephen Nesspor, 54, of West Lawn, must spend a year in a federal correctional institution, Senior U.S. District Judge Edwin M. Kosik ruled.
Kosik also sentenced Nesspor to spend three years on supervised released after serving his prison sentence and to pay a $500 fine and a $100 special assessment.
Nesspor pleaded guilty May 14 to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute Oxycontin.
A grand jury indicted Nesspor on Sept. 20, 2011, on charges that he and his co-conspirators started distributing 80-milligram Oxycontin pills in July 2010 and continued until the date of the indictment.
"The defendants and/or their co-conspirators would obtain the controlled substances via ... physicians' prescriptions from pharmacies in eastern Pennsylvania," the indictment reads in part.
Furthermore, Nesspor and his co-conspirators also were dangerous, according to the grand jury.
"The defendants and/or their co-conspirators possessed firearms to protect their drug distribution locations and activities," the indictment reads in part.
In its indictment, the grand jury listed eight separate distributions, five in Schuylkill and three in Berks, in 2011 of Oxycontin pills by one of the co-conspirators. The dates of the Schuylkill County distributions were Feb. 3, Feb. 8, Feb. 17, March 1 and March 30, according to the indictment.
Nesspor is one of three men who admitted being part of the drug ring.
Co-defendant Richard Law II already has been sentenced to serve 15 months in a federal correctional institution, while co-defendant Michael Beaver has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing, according to U.S. Attorney Peter J. Smith.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa prosecuted the case against Nesspor.
The federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the Pennsylvania State Police investigated the case.