Dargan

HOLLIDAYSBURG — The city man accused of sex trafficking and delivering drugs resulting in death had a jury seated Monday morning to hear his case after waiting three years in the Blair County Prison.

Donald “The Rev” Dargan, 62, is scheduled for a five-day criminal jury trial starting on Nov. 17 at the courthouse.

He is one of five men accused of forcing drug-addicted women to engage in prostitution for drugs and is charged with rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, involuntary servitude, trafficking individuals, corrupt organization and possession with intent to deliver.

He is also charged with the overdose death of 38-year-old Colleen Buck, found dead at Dargan’s Altoona apartment on the 800 block of Sixth Avenue on Jan. 22, 2021.

Dargan has been incarcerated since Jan. 3, 2022, in lieu of $450,000 bail.

President Judge Wade A. Kagarise oversaw the selection where a jury of 12 — six men and six women — along with four alternates were chosen as the panel.

To select the jury, Kagarise, along with First Assistant District Attorney Nichole Smith, Dargan, who is representing himself, and Dargan’s standby counsel Christopher Jancula, asked prospective jurors several questions, including if they had any prior knowledge of the case.

Kagarise told the prospective panel the nature of the case, saying the allegations were to have occurred between May 2020 and the end of 2021 and involved charges of human trafficking, rape, sexual assault, corrupt organizations and kidnapping, among other offenses. When asked if anyone knew the case, there was no response but, when asked if anyone would have trouble remaining impartial hearing a case with those charges, several jurors came forward and were subsequently dismissed.

Kagarise then cautioned those present that testimony and evidence in the case could be explicit, graphic and uncomfortable in nature and asked if anyone would have trouble focusing on the trial under those circumstances, to which one juror responded and was dismissed.

Dargan’s case is heading to trial after more than three years and five previously scheduled jury selections. Jancula attempted to have Dargan’s criminal charges dismissed during a pre-trial hearing in June due to the amount of time that had passed.

He said that while there were periods where Dargan’s case was on hold because of pre-trial motions he had filed on Dargan’s behalf, Dargan’s Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial was still violated.

In response to Jancula’s arguments, District Attorney Pete Weeks presented Kagarise with a lengthy review of docketed entries related to Dargan’s case since the filing of a criminal complaint on Dec. 30, 2021. Weeks told Kagarise there had been no “lack of due diligence from the Commonwealth at all” and Kagarise ultimately agreed.

However, Jancula pointed out that his client’s human trafficking charges were slated for jury selection on March 25. But on March 21, Jancula said, the Commonwealth disclosed a recorded phone call with one of its witnesses who told somebody that he made up his testimony.

Weeks said that case could have still gone to trial and Jancula could have used the information to impeach the witness. Instead, a jury was selected to hear Dargan’s felony charge of illegal possession of a firearm, for which he was convicted.

The charges were brought against Dargan after Altoona police became aware of a human trafficking ring being operated in the city in December 2020.

The ring provided drugs to women in order to get them “strung out.”

They would then cut the women off from their supply of drugs and, once they were desperate, police said the group would have the women prostitute themselves in order to obtain drugs.

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.