Sharon man pleads guilty to witness tampering

The defendant's mother also was involved.
PITTSBURGH -- Mark Hopson, a Sharon man arrested three years ago on drug charges, pleaded guilty to a charge of witness tampering in federal court.
Hopson, 35, formerly of Baldwin Avenue, pleaded guilty last year to related federal drug and money laundering violations. After his most recent plea Tuesday, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, on all of the charges, according to prosecutors.
Investigation
According to information presented in court, from 1998 to 2002, Hopson conspired with others to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute 1.76 ounces or more of crack cocaine. Also, during that time period, Hopson and his mother, Sarah, conspired to launder money. Hopson's mother was sentenced last year to 15 months' imprisonment.
Prosecutors said the prosecution of Mark and Sarah Hopson was the result of a multiagency investigation of large-scale crack cocaine activities in Sharon and Farrell. The investigation revealed that from 1998 to 2002, Mark Hopson was involved in obtaining powder cocaine, "cooking" that cocaine and transforming it into crack and then providing it to others for distribution in Sharon and Farrell.
Authorities said in that time, Hopson made large financial transactions, including the purchase of a new GMC Denali and numerous expansions and additions to his home.
On Dec. 30, 2004, while the drug and money laundering charges were pending, Hopson and a second person used a golf club to beat one of the government's witnesses in an effort to induce that person to withhold testimony in the upcoming trial.
The FBI, the Internal Revenue Service-criminal investigation, the Pennsylvania State Police and the Sharon Police Department were involved in the investigation.