Suspect faces drug court program
HOLLIDAYSBURG — An Altoona woman charged with multiple heroin sales in 2014 and 2015 is being directed toward Blair County’s Drug Court program in exchange for her guilty pleas.
Cassandra J. Conrad, 27, identified by police as someone who sold heroin brought to the Altoona area by Norman P. Gomez and his associates, entered pleas Friday to charges filed by Altoona police in May 2016, including participation in a corrupt organization, criminal conspiracy, dealing in unlawful proceeds, possession with intent to deliver and possession.
Defense attorney Robert Donaldson told Blair County Senior Judge Hiram Carpenter that his client has been “clean for a year” and remains employed. She has remained out of jail on unsecured bail.
Carpenter acknowledged Donaldson’s assessment of his client and the plan for Conrad to apply for participation in county drug court requiring regular court appearances and supervision.
“There’s not much you can do about the past, but there’s a lot you can do about the future,” Carpenter told Conrad.
Court documents indicate that Anthony R. Makarikas told police in February 2016 that he had been accompanying Gomez to New York City to acquire heroin. Subsequently, Markarikas provided heroin to Conrad and her then boyfriend, Andrew Good, which they sold to others, court records state.
While police filed charges against both Conrad and Good, charges against Good were withdrawn after the county court system received notice of Good’s Aug. 7 death at his residence in Altoona.
Both Gomez and Makarikas remain in prison. Gomez, in May, entered multiple pleas in exchange for a 10- to 20-year sentence. Makarikas’ drug-trafficking charges are pending, but he is
scheduled for plea court on Oct. 20.
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