Sheamus Patrick McCarthy
Credit: Bucks County District Attorney’s Office
A man who was being held in the Bucks County Correctional Facility for running a drug ring with his brothers is now facing charges of attempting to obtain drugs to sell while in lockup earlier this year.
Sheamus Patrick McCarthy, 28, of Richland Township, was charged recently with soliciting other persons to send him contraband while in jail, attempted possession of a controlled substance by an inmate, attempted possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, and related offenses, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.
McCarthy, who is presently in state prison serving at least 9.5 to 20 years behind bars in his previous Upper Bucks County heroin trafficking case, allegedly sent letters to his girlfriend and a younger brother in January asking for them to send him Suboxone strips and synthetic marijuana, according to court papers.
While in the county lockup in Doylestown Township, McCarthy told the two he could turn a profit selling the drugs, which he referred to as “Eagles tickets” and “Flyers tickets,” authorities said.
“‘Flyers tickets’ stood in for Suboxone, the detectives wrote in a criminal complaint, as both the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team and sublingual strips of the narcotic make prominent use of the color orange. Suboxone is a brand name for a medication containing buprenorphine and naloxone which is used to treat opioid addiction. Similarly, ‘Eagles tickets’ refer to synthetic marijuana, which like the uniforms of the Super Bowl LII winners typically appears green in color,” prosecutors said in a press release.
Investigators said the letters had indications that McCarthy sent them while in the county correctional facility. Further DNA testing of sample on the envelopes’ adhesive strips preliminarily matched McCarthy’s DNA profile.
McCarthy was a leader of a large drug network that circulated heroin in the Quakertown area. A grand jury report said that Sheamus McCarthy “was known around town as not only a high-level drug dealer, but someone who others described as an enforcer-type, involved in fights and acts of violence. He was considered the `mastermind of the organization’ while Casey McCarthy frequently made trips to Philadelphia to acquire the heroin to be distributed to heroin dealers who would in turn sell the heroin to users.”
Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
