HOLLIDAYSBURG — One of the Altoona men charged earlier this year with sex trafficking offenses and drug delivery resulting in death has been denied a change in his bail — for now.

Donald “The Rev” Dargan, 60, being held on $450,000 cash bail recently asked Judge Wade A. Kagarise for nominal bail because he’s been in the county prison since January and more than 180 days have passed without his trial commencing.

“I turned myself in, thinking I would have a fair chance at justice,” Dargan told Kagarise at a recent court hearing. “This is tearing the fabric of it.”

At that same court hearing, District Attorney Pete Weeks objected to Dargan’s request for nominal or lower bail.

“He’s an extreme flight risk given the nature of the offenses,” the district attorney said. “And he represents a significant safety risk to the community.”

During a preliminary hearing in April, several women testified about a sex trafficking operation in Altoona in 2020 and 2021, managed by Dargan and Sean Atkins, 42, Derrick McNeal, 53, Quincy Wilson, 45, and Tony Ross, 45, all of whom remain incarcerated.

The women said they were forced to engage in sexual relations in exchange for drugs, including heroin that Dargan allegedly supplied.

Criminal charges also indicate that Dargan provided a “hot shot” — described as a spiked drug dosage — prior to the death of Colleen Buck in January 2021. Buck died in Dargan’s third-floor apartment on the 800 block of Sixth Avenue, with test results identifying the cause of death as an acute fentanyl overdose.

In response to Weeks’ objections to the bail request, Dargan disagreed.

“I turned myself in so I’m not a flight risk,” he told Kagarise.

Dargan also said he’s been living in Blair County for 20 years and his family members live here too.

Kagarise asked Dargan if he owned property in the county and Dargan said no.

But Dargan said he runs his own business servicing fire extinguishers and makes no money while incarcerated.

Kagarise’s order denying Dargan’s request for a change in bail also indicated that he can bring up the request again on Oct. 21, when he is scheduled to be in court with recently appointed attorney Christopher Jancula.

At the court hearing, Dargan, who had spoken of potentially representing himself, advised Kagarise that he preferred to be represented by legal counsel. But he also asked the judge to let him make an argument for a change in bail.

Dargan, until early August, was represented by attorney Richard Corcoran of Ebensburg. But Corcoran was allowed to withdraw as Dargan’s lawyer, after recognizing a conflict from having previously represented someone else involved in the case.

Kagarise, who appointed Jancula on Sept. 27 to represent Dargan, acknowledged at the recent court hearing that Dargan’s time without legal representation was too long. The judge said efforts to find a successor attorney stalled and upon learning of that, he took it upon himself to begin searching.

“There’s no excuse for the delay you have incurred,” Kagarise told Dargan.

In speaking about the delay, the judge said that the county has a short list of defense attorneys willing to accept cases by court appointment and that presents difficulty when a case involves multiple defendants and witnesses.

“This case is why we need to do a better job of identifying reforms that will make conflict counsel more readily available,” Kagarise said.

The judge also acknowledged that Blair County doesn’t have “as many criminal lawyers as we used to have.”

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.