Problems plague drug trial testimony

Monday, January 30, 2012

CLEARFIELD - Problems with witnesses plagued the fifth day of the "Operation Drive Thru" drug trial in Clearfield County.
The "Operation Drive Thru" drug ring allegedly brought vast quantities of illegal drugs into Clearfield County. The defendants are Charles Gearhart, 145 Hunter Road, Woodland, Michael C. Styers, 138 South Diamond, Mercer, and Maharaji "Bean" Hemingway, 1631 W. 26th St., Philadelphia.
The charges stem from an investigation into a drug organization allegedly headed by Styers, who traveled into Philadelphia, Pittsburgh or Wilkes-Barre to acquire drugs for resale in Clearfield County. The investigation was known as "Operation Drive Thru," because, according to grand jury testimony, Charles and Danielle Gearhart were allegedly selling to numerous customers who drove their vehicles up to a window of their mobile home on an almost daily basis.
Brandon "BJ" Kifer testified before lunch when it was discovered that he may have shared a jail cell with Hemingway at the Clearfield County Jail. Kifer's cross examination was then put on hold until the matter could be investigated further.
In Kifer's testimony, he said he would go to Styers' garage to buy cocaine. If Styers wasn't there, Gearhart would be. While Kifer was working at Lansdale, he was staying in a motel. Gearhart came there on his way somewhere, and came back with about an ounce of cocaine.
He also recalled going with Arianne Brocious to take Styers back to a halfway house in Aliquippa. Instead, they left the area. Kifer said they were talking about going to New Orleans and making a living there. They were picked up about a week to ten days later in Butler County.
There was one time he bought cocaine from Hemingway whom he knew as "Bean" in Philadelphia. He said Brocious set it up. Kifer went with his sister, Autumn Kifer, to meet Bean near the zoo in Philadelphia.
Bean told him to take the cocaine back to Clearfield to sell it. He was then to bring the money back. Autumn Kifer stayed with Bean as "a show of faith that I was coming back".
But five minutes out of the city he felt "wrong". He called Bean who assured him it would be alright, convinced him he was already too far away and that he should go on to Clearfield to sell it. Kifer went home, told his mother about it and then used all the cocaine himself.
His mother contacted Anthony Manchio, who later picked his sister up. Autumn Kifer's earlier testimony recounted the same events.
Kifer identified Hemingway as the man, "Bean" he had met in Philadelphia.
Michael C. Gearhart was called to the stand, but after some protests from the attorneys of Charles Gearhart and Styers, his testimony was postponed until they could review information on his previous grand jury statements. Originally, Michael C. Gearhart was to stand trial as a co-defendant in this case. He signed a plea agreement about a month ago which did not give the commonwealth time to provide the information to the defense attorneys. The information was then provided immediately.
Michael S. Gearhart, the son of Michael C. Gearhart, testified that he did not remember what he said during his grand jury testimony. He said he never bought cocaine from Styers and didn't know that his father did.
David Gorman, who is prosecuting the case for the attorney general's office, began reading Michael S. Gearhart's previous testimony. This included him stating his father would call Styers and then go to his home to purchase cocaine.
Michael S. Gearhart continued to be reluctant to say anything, claiming he didn't remember. During cross examination by Charles Gearhart's attorney, Gary Knaresboro, Michael S. Gearhart stated that when Agent David Jordan and Deputy Sheriff Robert Snyder talked with him about the case, they told him they knew more about it than he did.
"Did you say what you thought they wanted because they could file charges against you?" Knaresboro asked to which Michael S. Gearhart replied he wasn't sure. He did say that the answers were not correct claiming he didn't ever buy illegal drugs from Charles Gearhart although they "used together".
Gorman then asked him if what he testified to previously was not true. Michael S. Gearhart said "yes". But when asked if Jordan or anyone else told him what to say, he said "no."
Knaresboro asked if they put words in his mouth and he replied that "before I opened my mouth they said they knew what happened."
"It's just a bunch of people saying stuff about other people as far as I'm concerned," Michael S. Gearhart said of the testimony of others during the grand jury.
"When you testified at the grand jury, did you regurgitate what they told you?" Knaresboro asked.
"Yes," Michael S. Gearhart replied.
A state prison inmate who refused to testify earlier in the week changed his mind and was ready to speak. Gorman told Judge Fredric J. Ammerman that he is reluctant to call the inmate to the stand because there was information that if he did testify he planned to do whatever he could to cause a mistrial. Ammerman noted that if the commonwealth didn't want to call the man as a witness when he was willing to testify, the inmate would be released from a contempt of court charge issued earlier in the week.
The other witnesses agreed with previous testimony as to cocaine transactions with Syers, Charles Gearhart and Hemingway during 2005 and 2006.
Tammy L. Brolin, testified she met Styers through Michael Gearhart, who she was dating in 2006. She was with Gearhart when he purchased cocaine from Styers in his kitchen. Brolin also gave information on an incident in 2005 when Jacob Pittman borrowed her car but did not bring it back. She learned he had traded her 1995 Ford Escort for cocaine. She explained she then went to the Styers residence where Sheila Styers told her to get out. Brolin then got her car keys and simply took the car which was parked in front of the Styers house.
Denny Daub testified that he purchased cocaine from Gearhart whom he would contact by phone. He would pick it up at Gearhart's trailer. Daub said he bought from him as often as every other day. He estimated he bought from Gearhart 60 to 80 times. He also partied with Gearhart and others at the Styers home in Clearfield. Daub admitted he also sold some cocaine to help support his habit.
Darla Daub testified that once she and Richard Smeal waited in Grampian for Styers, who was going to the methadone clinic there. They followed him until they were able to pull up beside his vehicle. Smeal bought a couple grams from Styers that day.
She said cocaine sold by Smeal, Gearhart and Michael Gearhart was coming from Styers. She bought cocaine from Charles Gearhart about 100 times.
On one occasion she saw a baseball size amount of cocaine in his living room where he and others were separating it into smaller baggies. About half of it was bagged with about 30 bags already completed.
She also bought oxycontin from Styers. She saw him with a white pill bottle that was two inches tall and two inches round, full of pills. She remembers him having a large quantity of pills of "different shapes and colors". She was buying pills from in during the period of Oct. 2006 into Feb. 2007. Styers is charged with breaking into the Rite Aid in Clearfield Oct. 19, 2006.
Joseph Hunter testified that he became addicted to pain killers after having back surgery in 2005. He started using cocaine and would trade Styers pills for cocaine at the garage at the Styers home. He saw Styers putting cocaine on a scale and then into gram sized baggies. He was aware the cocaine came from Bean in Philadelphia.
In 2006 he went with Styers and Brocious to meet Bean at a Holiday Inn in Philadelphia. Styers got 21 ounces of cocaine that day. He was in a hotel room when he saw Styers and Bean outside in the parking lot. Styers took the cocaine and hid it in the speaker box of Hunter's vehicle.
Another time Hunter, Gearhart and Rick Wilkinson went to Philadelphia to a house to get cocaine from Bean. Gearhart had $10,000 to purchase it, Hunter said. Wilkinson and Gearhart went into the home while Hunter waited in the car. They came back with a brown bag they said had cocaine in it.
Hunter testified he also saw Bean in Clearfield a few other times. He was able to identify Hemingway as Bean.
Styers traded items for cocaine, Hunter said, including cars, and four wheelers.
Hunter bought cocaine from Gearhart at his trailer where Gearhart was selling from the back window to keep his children away from it.
Renee Krumenaker testified that she wasn't allowed into Styers's home at first but after Gearhart saw her sitting in her car waiting for her friends, he said she could come into the garage. She said she saw Cindy Kifer trade her pills for cocaine about 50 times. Krumenaker herself spent over $25,000 on cocaine. When asked where she got the money, she stated that she stole it.
Lori Swatsworth Gearhart testified that she purchased cocaine from Styers at his garage maybe 20 times.
Gearhart is charged with 14 counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, criminal conspiracy, criminal use of communication facility, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity, two counts of corrupt organizations and racketeering activity.
Styers is charged with 14 counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, criminal conspiracy, criminal use of communication facility, two counts of dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity, two counts of corrupt organizations, burglary, theft by unlawful taking, criminal attempt, criminal trespass and racketeering activity.
Hemingway is charged with six counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, criminal conspiracy, criminal use of communication facility, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity, two counts of corrupt organizations, racketeering activity, and false imprisonment.
The trial continues today and is expected to go into Tuesday and possibly Wednesday.
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Reported by Julie Rae Rickard, C-E correspondent. E-mail: jrickard@thecourierexpress.com.