Officials: Elizabeth man sentenced for distributing drugs in Pittsburgh's South Side as part of DS44 gang

An Elizabeth man pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of violating federal narcotics and firearms laws, Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman announced Thursday.

Dontae Gilbert, 20, pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute a quantity of a mixture of heroin and fentanyl and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

Gilbert is one of 36 defendants charged in the original indictment.

According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Greater Pittsburgh Safe Streets Task Force in 2017 began an investigation into the Darccide/Smash 44, or DS44, gang and its drug-trafficking activity in and around Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood.

During the investigation, Gilbert was identified as a low-level distributor of heroin and fentanyl supplied by members of the organization, federal officials said.

In April 2019, agents searched Gilbert’s home and found 13 stamp bags containing of mixture of heroin and fentanyl, a loaded pistol, drug packaging and weighing materials, the release reads.

By June 2019, Gilbert was one of several people indicted and charged with conspiring to distribute and distributing more than a kilogram of heroin, at least 400 grams of fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, cocaine and crack cocaine from January 2018 through June 2019. Of those that were indicted, 35 were from Western Pennsylvania, one was from New York and one was from West Virginia.

U.S. District Judge William S. Stickman IV scheduled Gilbert’s sentencing for Feb. 17.

Gilbert remains detained pending sentencing.