Luzerne County DA: fentanyl declining, meth ‘way up’

Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce said he is pleased to report the presence of fentanyl has “greatly decreased” in the county.

“I’m not happy to report that meth, which is largely created here in rural areas, is way up,” the DA said during his required annual report to County Council last week.

The decline of fentanyl — a powerful synthetic opioid — “seems to have coincided with the closing of the border,” Sanguedolce said.

He highlighted the county’s decreasing drug overdose deaths.

There were 79 confirmed overdose deaths in the county in 2025, the DA said. After reaching a record high of 208 overdose deaths in 2021, the county’s count has gradually declined to 174 in 2022, 145 in 2023 and 89 in 2024.

County Drug and Alcohol Administrator Michael Gagliardi has credited the county’s entire drug and alcohol treatment network for its unceasing work reaching and helping those with substance use disorder.

The county’s free distribution of the opioid overdose antidote Naloxone, or Narcan, also has been a “key component” in the death decline, Gagliardi has said.

Less fentanyl in local communities was a major driver of the overdose reduction, Sanguedolce said in his report.

He also commended first responders administering Narcan.

“It really does save lives,” the DA said. “We have been able to turn people’s lives around.”

Counseling services throughout the county have improved in “getting people the right help at the right time,” he said.

Regarding methamphetamine — a highly addictive synthetic stimulant — Gagliardi said it has long been on the radar.

“Changes in trends are not uncommon,” Gagliardi said. “With all of the recent focus on the opioid epidemic, meth is still considered cheap and widely used.”

The county’s Drug Task Force initiated 302 cases in 2025, the DA said.

He provided the following breakdown of task force drug seizures last year:

• Fentanyl, 1.7 kilograms

• Heroin, 30.26 grams

• Marijuana, 19.1 kilograms/29 vape cartridges

• Cocaine, 879.78 grams

• Crack, 330.05 grams

• Meth, 6.25 kilograms

• MDMA, also known as ecstasy, 388.1 grams

County Councilman John Lombardo, a first responder, pointed out the 1.7 kilograms Sanguedolce’s office seized could “still kill almost a million people.”

He praised the DA’s Office and task force for the significant quantity of drugs it removed from circulation.

Future plans

Sanguedolce also updated County Council on a planned central court and processing center project in the county’s voting equipment warehouse on Water Street in Wilkes-Barre.

Space is available for the project in the two-story warehouse because the county Election Bureau is reducing the number of ballot marking devices that must be stored there from approximately 700 to 186, officials said.

Ballot marking devices must still be set up at all 186 voting precincts for those with disabilities, but other voters will fill out their selections on paper ballots and feed them into tabulators.

County officials plan to relocate Central Court to the warehouse along with a new central processing center that the county DA’s Office has been planning for years.

The processing center would create a single location to fingerprint and complete all necessary checks and paperwork required to book those arrested by police.

Sanguedolce said the plan will free up law enforcement for patrols because they will spend less time on processing tasks. The center would also be equipped with a grant-funded automated fingerprint identification system that provides a more up-to-date account of an offender’s criminal history than ink fingerprinting, he said.

Court officials established the Central Court in October 2017 as a hub to adjudicate magisterial-level criminal cases, allowing for streamlined scheduling and immediate access to all parties involved in the criminal justice system. It is currently housed in a converted residential structure adjacent to the county prison that is too small, officials said.

An engineering review of the plan is underway, and county officials said grants may be available.

Sanguedolce said funds will also be available from a $300 fee collected from all criminal defendants, implemented in 2024.

Most importantly, the move to a larger space will allow defendants to receive on-the-spot access to services they need at central court, including evaluations for drug and alcohol, and mental health treatment programs and diversionary courts, Sanguedolce said.

This timing is “extremely important” for defendants with substance use and mental health issues because many have become “lost” waiting to become involved in programs that can help them, he said.

In another program, the DA’s Office has started a federal grant-funded Emergency Services Unit to provide multiple investigative services to local police departments, including accident and scene construction, digital device analysis of cell phones and computers, a SWAT team and drone surveillance services, Sanguedolce said.

This unit will be separate from the DA’s Office and managed by a board of local police chiefs, he told council.

Six police departments have signed on to participate in the unit to date, he said: Hazleton, Pittston, Wilkes-Barre, Hanover Township, Kingston, and Plains Township. Two other departments — West Side Regional and Nanticoke — are also in discussions about joining the unit, he said.

Crime stats

The DA’s Office prosecuted 4,449 cases in the County Court of Common Pleas in 2025 and had 49 trials in county court — 32 jury and 17 bench, he said.

Seventeen people were charged with homicide last year, Sanguedolce said, noting some of these alleged crimes occurred prior to 2025.

The office resolved 15 homicide cases through pleas or trials, compared to a dozen resolutions in 2024, he said.

There are currently 31 homicide cases awaiting trial, including six that are potential death penalty cases, the DA said.

Sanguedolce said 88 gun violence cases were initiated by his office in 2025.

Forty-seven were arrested for lying about their ability to possess a firearm, he said.

Ten more were arrested for “straw purchases” of firearms, he said, describing this figure as “shocking.” In this situation, people legitimately allowed to buy firearms purchase them with the intent of transferring the guns to someone who is not lawfully permitted to possess them, he said.

More statistics, staffing, and budget updates are available in Sanguedolce’s written report, which is posted with council’s agenda at luzernecounty.org.