Men plead to heroin charges


April 1, 2014 at 12:00a.m.

By Joe Gorman

jgorman@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Two men accused of distributing heroin on the West Side for a year pleaded guilty Monday to charges of trafficking in heroin.

Dennis Sklenchar Jr., 20, of Staatz Drive, entered guilty pleas to four counts of trafficking in heroin and a count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity before Judge James Evans in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Also pleading guilty Monday to two counts of trafficking in heroin and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity was 24-year-old Christopher Johnson of Rush Boulevard.

Prosecutors are recommending sentences of four years for both Sklenchar and Johnson. Maximum sentence for the charges is one year each for the trafficking charges and eight years on the charge of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.

Both men are scheduled to be sentenced May 13.

Martin Desmond, an assistant county prosecutor, said Sklenchar was part of a ring that distributed heroin on the West Side from December 2011 to December 2012. A grand jury indicted the men on the charges last June.

The indictment said the six sold the heroin in Mahoning and Trumbull counties. Sklenchar was accused in the indictment of selling the drug on at least four occasions.

Sklenchar also must forfeit $424 he was carrying when he was arrested, according to the plea agreement.

Desmond said the man who was the leader of the ring, John Skarada, 28, of Connecticut Avenue, was arrested on his way back from Detroit with a kilo of heroin before he was indicted. Court records show he had a pretrial date set for Monday, but it was continued, and a new date has not been set.

Also indicted were Robert A. Basic, 37, of Oak Trace, who pleaded guilty to a charge of permitting drug abuse March 13 and is being sentenced May 13; Shauna Lee Barber, 26, of Connecticut Avenue, who is set to enter a guilty plea April 22 to trafficking in heroin; and Bruce Dawson, 26, of Roy Street. He had a trial date set for Monday on a charge of trafficking in heroin, but the trial was continued with no new date set.