Kenneth Smith

Photo by Pike County DA

MILFORD, PA — Pike County District Attorney Ray Tonkin announced a jury verdict convicting a Wayne County man in the death of a Pike County resident in April  2020. The Pike County jury convicted Kenneth Smith, age 42, of Honesdale,  Pennsylvania of drug delivery resulting in death, criminal conspiracy to commit drug delivery resulting in death, possession with intent to deliver fentanyl, criminal conspiracy to commit possession with intent to deliver fentanyl, all felony charges. Smith was convicted after a four-day trial in Pike County Court before President  Judge Gregory H. Chelak. 

In 2020, the Pennsylvania State Police vice unit, along with the Pike County District  Attorney’s Office, conducted a two-month investigation into the death of an individual in Dingman Township, Pike County. As part of that investigation,  investigators learned of a supplier of a large quantity of fentanyl to Northeastern  Pennsylvania. The investigation revealed that Kenneth Smith of Honesdale,  Pennsylvania would be bringing a large quantity of heroin/fentanyl from Paterson,  NJ to Northeastern Pennsylvania during the overnight hours of June 25th.  Troopers made contact with Kenneth Smith who was operating a rental vehicle registered in Florida at a hotel in Milford Township, Pike County at 4:30 a.m. June  25. Smith and his passenger, Paul Wassel, were arrested on probable cause of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and criminal conspiracy.

After the arrest, troopers obtained a search warrant for the vehicle Smith was driving from Magisterial District Judge Randy Schmalzle. According to the charges, troopers searched the vehicle and located over 2300 bags of suspected heroin/fentanyl in the engine compartment of the vehicle and over $600.00 in cash. The street value of the fentanyl was approximately $23,000.00. 

The investigation into the death continued and investigators linked Smith and  Samuel Mittelmark, age 26, of Pike County, to the delivery of fentanyl that caused the death of the individual in Dingman Township in April of 2020. 

Smith will face sentencing on September 6, at 11 a.m. 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 nine years to forty years in a state correctional facility.  

Tonkin praised the cooperation during the investigation, the jury’s work in the case and the teamwork of Assistant District Attorney Jamie Wagenhoffer and Alec  Colquhon in prosecuting the case against Smith at trial. “My office and law  enforcement will continue to vigorously prosecute the people who continue to peddle  the poison of fentanyl and other dangerous drugs here in Pike County”, stated  Tonkin 

The agencies taking part in the investigation were the Pennsylvania State  Police Vice Unit and the Pike County District Attorney’s Office Criminal Investigation Division. The Wayne County District Attorney’s Office also assisted in the investigation.