A Baldwin drug dealer facing homicide charges in the drug-related death of his 1-year-old pleaded guilty in federal court on Wednesday to his role in a multi-county narcotics ring dismantled last year by an FBI task force.
Thomas Snelsire, 46, pleaded to two counts of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Snelsire and Tracy Humphries were charged last year with homicide after police said their 1-year-old son died of a fentanyl overdose.
In the federal case, prosecutors said Snelsire was part of ring selling heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine in Allegheny, Westmoreland, Erie, Fayette and Washington counties.
From August 2020 to November of that year, the FBI tapped 10 cellphones and intercepted thousands of calls and texts. Three of those phones were used by Anthony Peluso, the accused ringleader whose case is pending in federal court.
Snelsire admitted Wednesday that he was a drug dealer associated with Peluso and sold drugs in and around Baldwin, dealing out of his house on Oakleaf Road.
According to the plea, Snelsire and Peluso discussed types and quantities of drugs during the course of the conspiracy. In September 2020, for example, Snelsire received cocaine from Peluso. Phone taps revealed him complaining to Peluso about the poor quality. At one point, prosecutors said, Snelsire told Peluso that he put the cocaine on a napkin and onto a plate, saying he "got it under [a] lamp in living room," meaning he was trying to salvage the coke by drying it out so he could sell it.
A search of Snelsire's house on Sept. 13, 2020, turned up the cocaine on a napkin, on a plate and under a lamp in the living room, just as he described, prosecutors said.
As part of his plea, Snelsire accepted responsibility for distributing at least 500 grams of coke and 100 grams of heroin.
U.S. District Judge Robert Colville set sentencing for March 22. Snelsire faces at least a decade in federal prison.
First Published: October 28, 2021, 8:45 p.m.
