A 27-year-old Sharon man pleaded guilty in federal court in Pittsburgh to drug trafficking and firearm charges, admitting he possessed cocaine base, methamphetamine and marijuana with intent to distribute while carrying a firearm in furtherance of the crime on April 10, 2025. Daequon Hasan now faces a statutory penalty ranging from five years up to life in prison, along with fines of up to $2.25 million, depending on how federal sentencing guidelines apply to his case.
Guilty Plea Comes With Mandatory Prison Exposure
Hasan entered his plea before U.S. District Judge William S. Stickman IV, according to WKBN.com, and pleaded guilty on Monday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig W. Haller is assigned to prosecute the case, according to the Department of Justice. Hasan is scheduled for sentencing on February 25, 2027.
The drug charge alone carries serious weight, but it's the firearm count that strips the judge of any sentencing flexibility. Under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime carries a mandatory minimum of five years in prison that must run consecutively to whatever penalty is imposed for the underlying drug offense, according to the Legal Information Institute. In practice, that means federal law deprives Judge Stickman of the discretion to let the firearm enhancement run alongside the drug sentence — the two terms stack on top of each other.
Multi-Agency Investigation Led to Federal Charges
The investigation that led to Hasan's prosecution involved the Mercer County Drug Task Force, the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Department of Justice release states.
Sharon Has Seen This Pattern Before
Hasan's case is not an outlier for the small city of Sharon. Just weeks earlier, on September 9, another 27-year-old Sharon resident, Jiemaliahl Cleveland, pleaded guilty in Pittsburgh federal court to fentanyl trafficking and firearm charges tied to a December 2025 offense, with sentencing set for January 6, 2027 before U.S. District Judge Robert J. Colville. And on September 1, 47-year-old former Sharon resident Bruce Lindsey was sentenced to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine for armed crack cocaine trafficking committed in Sharon in March 2025 — a case in which Lindsey had prior state convictions for homicide and robbery before pleading guilty in federal court.
The pattern stretches back further. In September 2025, former Sharon resident Larry Marrow was sentenced to 140 months in prison for trafficking fentanyl and cocaine within 1,000 feet of an elementary school and next door to a daycare center in Sharon; Marrow had eight prior drug and gun convictions across Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio. And in March 2024, 37-year-old Sharon resident Zachariah Owens was sentenced to 15 years in prison in an armed cocaine-distribution case involving children in the home.
Mercer County Overdose Data
Regional public health data reported in 2023 found that naloxone was administered more than 500 times per year in Mercer County during peak crisis years, per Jersey's Best.
Hasan is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Stickman on February 25, 2027.
