Former Greensburg police chief set to be sentenced 1 year after pleading guilty to drug conspiracy
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A former Greensburg police chief is set to be sentenced in April after a December hearing was rescheduled.
The attorney for Shawn Denning, 43, of Delmont requested more time to prepare for the hearing while in the midst of handling other, unrelated cases, according to court filings this month.
The new date is April 17.
Denning pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to distribute drugs. He was arrested by federal investigators in January 2023 at Greensburg City Hall and resigned afterward.
Federal prosecutors say Denning started communicating in July 2021 with a government informant and connected them to drug dealers in California to buy cocaine and methamphetamine. They claim that continued for 15 months.
He remains free on bond while awaiting sentencing.
Denning’s former co-worker Regina McAtee, 51, of New Kensington is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 19. She pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine for violations between November 2020 and January 2023 and remains free on bond.
Prosecutors have said McAtee and Denning were working together to order and pay for pills that contained methamphetamine from suppliers online. Investigators recovered text messages between the two and payments made by McAtee. The orders would be shipped to McAtee’s home, she would use some of them and give the rest to Denning, they said.
The pair worked together at the Greensburg police station for years. After Denning’s arrest, McAtee was suspended without pay for five months in early 2023 and retired later that year. A criminal complaint was filed March 13.