EIGHT CHARGED IN NORTH-CENTRAL PA. DRUG RING

Eight people, including a Texan, have been charged with operating a drug
ring in north-central Pennsylvania that allegedly trafficked between 20 and
60 pounds of marijuana every two weeks between 1997 and 2001.

Attorney General Mike Fisher announced the charges Tuesday with local
prosecutors and the Pennsylvania State Police.

Fisher said Jeremy Michael Baney, 30, of Tucson, Ariz., led the ring,
bringing in drugs from New York City every other week. Baney previously
lived in Philipsburg, Lock Haven and Williamsport.

Authorities said Baney and his girlfriend, Linda Louise Hartz, 25, of
Tucson, also operated stores in Williamsport and State College that sold
drug paraphernalia.

Baney faces more than 90 criminal charges, including multiple counts of
possession of marijuana and cocaine with intent to deliver, money
laundering, conspiracy and criminal use of a communications facility. Hartz
faces more than 30 charges of similar offenses.

Also charged were Carl Edward Johnson, 30, of Forney, Texas; Jamie M. Corl,
25, of Bellefonte; Daniel Guthrie, 35, of Lock Haven; Mary Guthrie, 41, of
Lock Haven; Justin Morton, 21, of Lock Haven; and Matthew Allan Briggs, 32,
of Mill Hall.