Man pleads no contest to heroin trafficking charges

Valcin accused of active role in effort to bring drugs to Altoona

HOLLIDAYSBURG -- A Pittsburgh area man accused of an active role in a 2021 effort bringing large amounts of illegal drugs to Altoona has rendered no contest pleas to trafficking charges that were to be the focus of a jury trial this week in Blair County Court.

Sirjihad Zaire Valcin, 21, on Thursday rendered pleas to felony charges of criminal conspiracy and possession with intent to deliver and to a misdemeanor charge of illegal possession of a controlled substance.

Valcin was one of three people arrested in April 2021 when police seized $170,000 in heroin brought to Altoona from Pittsburgh.

Because Valcin rendered the no contest pleas for no specific sentence, his fate will rest with President Judge Wade A. Kagarise, who scheduled sentencing for June 13, after completion of a pre-sentence investigation.

District Attorney Pete Weeks said Monday that he will make a recommendation at sentencing that will be consistent with prior offers to resolve Valcin's charges without a jury trial.

Valcin, who turned down those offers and picked a jury, was in court Thursday with defense attorney John Hicks, on behalf of the Thomas M. Dickey law office, indicating that he would render no contest pleas.

At sentencing, Valcin and his defense attorneys will be in a position to ask Kagarise for leniency.

Court records show Valcin was 18 years old on April 19, 2021, when he and Raemon Prunty, then 20, drove from the Braddock area of Pittsburgh to Altoona, where police stopped their vehicle.

With a search warrant for the vehicle, officers found 5,000 packets of heroin valued at $100,000 and three cellphones. Police also connected their delivery to an additional 3,700 packets of heroin, valued at about $70,000, found at the Altoona residence of John Joseph Eckard Sr.

In February 2023, the 62-year-old Eckard rendered guilty pleas to several drug trafficking offenses and was sentenced to 7.5-to-20 years' incarceration.

Weeks said Monday that Valcin was considered to be the least involved, but certainly involved, in trafficking. The evidence, according to Weeks, showed that Valcin and Prunty made four trips from Pittsburgh to Altoona, including the April 19, 2021, trip when both were arrested. The evidence also showed their trips involved no activities, according to the prosecutor.

When arrested, Prunty's charges drew attention because at the time, he was a member of the Braddock Water Authority who had launched a campaign for a seat on Braddock's Borough Council.

In November 2022, Kagarise signed an order outlining conditions for Prunty to remain out of jail, pending resolution of his co-defendants' charges. Charges indicate that Prunty was getting the heroin from Rasul A. Acquil of Pittsburgh to bring to Eckard in Altoona.

In February 2023, the 23-year-old Acquil was found dead of a gunshot wound to his head, inside a vehicle on the 600 block of Chautauqua Street on Pittsburgh's North Side. Two months later, police arrested Aaron Smith in Altoona and charged him with criminal homicide in Acquil's death. Online records indicate that Smith, now 30, is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing in June and that Smith remains in the Allegheny County Prison.

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