HONESDALE, PA — Kenneth Smith, 42, of Honesdale, PA, has been convicted of delivering drugs that resulted in a death in Dingman Township in April 2020.

Pike County District Attorney Ray Tonkin announced the jury’s verdict on July 15.

The jury convicted Smith after a four-day trial in Pike County Court before President Judge Gregory H. Chelak. 

In 2020, the PA State Police Vice Unit and the Pike County District Attorney’s Office tracked down a supplier bringing powerful opioid drugs to Northeastern Pennsylvania. They learned that Smith would be transporting a large quantity of heroin/fentanyl from Paterson, NJ, to Northeastern Pennsylvania overnight on June 25, 2020.

Kenneth Smith

When troopers found Smith at 4:30 a.m. at a hotel in Milford Township, driving a rental vehicle registered in Florida. Smith and his passenger, Paul Wassel, were arrested on probable cause of possession of a controlledsubstance with intent to deliver and criminal conspiracy.

After the arrest, Magisterial District Judge Randy Schmalzle granted troopers a search warrant for the vehicle Smith was driving. According to the charges, troopers found more than 2,300 bags of suspected heroin/fentanyl car’s engine compartment and more than $600 in cash. The street value of the fentanyl was approximately $23,000.

As the investigation into the overdose death continued, investigators linked Smith and Samuel Mittelmark, 26, of Pike County, to the delivery of fentanyl that caused the death the individual in Dingman.

Smith will face sentencing at 11 a.m. on September 6 in Pike County Court after a pre-sentence report investigation. He is being held in the Pike County Correctional Facility.

Mittelmark previously pleaded guilty to a role in the death and other charges and was sentenced to a period of 9 to 40 years in a state correctional facility.

Assistant District Attorneys Jamie Wagenhoffer and Alec Colquhon prosecuted the case against Smith at trial. 

The Wayne County District Attorney’s Office also assisted in the investigation.

Smith was convicted of the following felonies: criminal conspiracy to commit drug delivery resulting in death, possession with intent to deliver fentanyl, and criminal conspiracy to commit possession with intent to deliver fentanyl.