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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- A member of the Altoona drug ring who was indicted on criminal charges following a statewide grand jury investigation in July 2025 entered guilty pleas to three felony counts in Blair County court Friday morning.
Laura Rutherford Horne, 29, pleaded guilty to single felony counts of possession with intent to deliver, conspiracy to commit possession with intent to deliver and dealing in unlawful proceeds.
In exchange for her pleas, Horne's aggregate sentence will not exceed two to four years' incarceration in a state correctional institution and the remaining 21 felony counts against her will be withdrawn and dismissed.
Horne appeared alongside defense attorney Mary Elizabeth Schaffer for a plea hearing in front of Senior Judge Michael George of Adams County. During the hearing, deputy attorney general Michael Madeira told George that the felony count of possession with intent to deliver would represent dates between 2021 and August 2024, in which Horne dealt 100 to 1,000 grams of cocaine, while the felony conspiracy count would represent the distribution of more than 1,000 grams of cocaine.
Once Horne is sentenced, Madeira said he would make a motion to have her remaining charges withdrawn and dismissed.
In accepting Horne's plea, George told her that the two ungraded felonies to which she was pleading each carried statutory maximum sentences of 10 years and the felony of the first degree carried a maximum of 20 years, meaning she could potentially face a maximum of 40 years' incarceration. Horne stated she understood.
Madeira told George that Horne was technically entering an open plea but, as a part of the deal, her aggregate maximum could not exceed two to four years' incarceration. He said Horne would also be recommended for the state drug treatment program and the Commonwealth would request no fines be imposed.
George scheduled Horne's sentencing for 9 a.m. Dec. 22 in courtroom six of the Blair County Courthouse. Horne has remained free after posting 10% of $150,000 bail.
Horne is the last of seven people to be sentenced in the case. She was taken into custody alongside Tareek Alquan Hemingway, 33, Rickey Sharief Joyner, 46; Matthew Lewis Rodriguez, 41; Cecylia Antoinette Thompson, 34; Milton Lavale Williams, 50; and Kirsten Lindsay Wright, 36, in June 2025 after a statewide grand jury investigation recommended criminal charges against them for running a suspected drug ring whose actions led to the 2022 overdose death of 26-year-old Marlana Koehle.
The drug-trafficking investigation began after Altoona police received a call in November 2022 for a suspected drug overdose.
On scene, they found a woman, later identified as Koehle, who had died of a multi-drug overdose that included fentanyl and cocaine. Police searched the area and found half of a blue pill and white powder, which were later tested and confirmed to be fentanyl and cocaine, according to the report.
A forensic pathologist determined the concentration of fentanyl in Koehle's body was sufficient to have caused her death. He said fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin and
60 times more potent than oxycodone. He also indicated it isn't surprising that an overdose occurs when an individual ingests what they believe to be oxycodone tablets, but in reality contains fentanyl.
In July 2026, George sentenced Joyner to 14 to 30 years' incarceration, Rodriguez to five to 10 years' incarceration and Wright to two to four years' incarceration. Hemingway was sentenced to five to 10 years' incarceration in a state correctional institute in late April after entering a no-contest plea in late March, while Williams was sentenced in November 2025 to six to 23.5 months in the Blair County Prison. Thompson received a sentence of 10 years' probation.
Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor-Musselman is at 814-946-7458.