Ex-Greensburg police chief hopes to avoid jail time in drug conspiracy case

Former Greensburg police chief Shawn Denning is hoping to stay out of jail when he is sentenced in federal court next week in his drug distribution conspiracy case.

Prosecutors are asking Denning be required to serve “a reasonable sentence of incarceration,” according to a sentencing memorandum filed Thursday.

Denning’s attorney is seeking no jail time, partly because of safety issues that may arise because of his law enforcement past. Instead, attorney Steven Townsend suggested options that would allow for community-based supervision and rehabilitation, according to the sentencing memorandum.

U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Bissoon is scheduled to sentence Denning, 44, of Delmont, May 1 at 2:30 p.m. in Pittsburgh federal court. Attorneys said in court filings that sentencing guidelines call for five years of imprisonment.

Denning’s January 2023 arrest at Greensburg City Hall shocked the community and destroyed the former Marine’s law enforcement career. He resigned from the post he had held for about a year. Denning had been with the department since 2008 and rose through the ranks to become chief.

He pleaded guilty in April 2024 to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine. He has been free on bond.

Denning is accused of communicating with a government informant starting in July 2021 and connecting that person with drug dealers in California to buy cocaine and methamphetamine, according to the original complaint filed in January 2023 in federal court in Pittsburgh by the Drug Enforcement Administration. That would continue for 15 months, according to court papers.

The complaint included conversations between Denning and the informant on smartphone apps where Denning is accused of providing contact information for the out-of-state suppliers and a “menu” of their available drugs, as well as how to transmit money to them electronically.

Denning vouched for the suppliers, and the DEA provided the informant with money to place orders, according to the complaint. The mailed packages that were confiscated contained drugs, authorities said.

In a letter to the court authored by Denning, which was included in the sentencing memorandum, he pointed to post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his military service in Iraq as a contributing factor in his actions. Since his arrest, he has held down multiple jobs at once, volunteered with a church and attended worship services and therapy.

“I have already learned difficult lessons and I strongly believe I have more to offer this world than what my paperwork reflects,” Denning wrote.

Several letters of support were submitted by his family, fellow veterans and a police officer.

Prosecutors said in court filings that prison time would reflect the seriousness of the offense and fall in line with sentences of other defendants convicted of similar conduct.

“The defendant’s PTSD may help explain why he was using narcotics, but not why he was helping others to purchase them,” prosecutors said. “And the defendant’s position as a former Marine and chief of police makes his crime worse, not better.”

Investigators said Denning helped one of his former subordinates, Regina McAtee, who was a Greensburg police officer, get methamphetamine pills online and then he would buy some from her once the order arrived. McAtee, 52, of New Kensington, was suspended in 2022 and retired the following year. She pleaded guilty in May 2024 to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

McAtee is scheduled for sentencing May 27.

Denning is awaiting court action in a case filed by Westmoreland County detectives in connection with a backpack containing suspected steroids and psilocybin mushrooms that was missing from the Greensburg police evidence room.