A Titusville man who was federally charged with drug possession and intent to distribute remains free as he awaits trial.
Lucas Cherry, 47, was indicted in 2025 for allegedly distributing drugs across Erie, Crawford and Venango counties. In total, officers recovered about 739 grams of methamphetamine, 25 grams of heroin, 64 grams of cocaine, and 340 grams of marijuana.
He was arraigned and entered a not guilty plea on July 21 last year. At that time, he was detained awaiting trial, but since then, he has been released.
In September, Chief United States Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania Richard Lanzillo released Cherry on bond but with pretrial supervision and location monitoring, and in January, that was modified to release Cherry from location monitoring.
Cherry’s counsel, Attorney Stephen Sebald of Sebald, Hackwelder & Knox in Erie, argued that Cherry posed no danger to the community or risk of flight and that Cherry remained gainfully employed, attended drug and alcohol treatment secession and has not used illegal drugs.
This comes as Sebald filed an extension to the pretrial filings deadline in February that will end on Sunday. In a phone interview with The Meadville Tribune on Wednesday, Sebald said that he will be filing for another extension. He’s in the process of completing an independent investigation and said, “I’m in talks with the prosecutor’s office to resolve this case.”
Cherry caught the attention of the federal government for the large amount of controlled substances he possessed along with the multi-county area in which he distributed, according to a criminal complaint filed by Rusty Surrena, a state policeman assigned to the Bureau of Criminal Investigations.
The first arrest was in North East in October 2024 where investigators recovered 1.63 pounds of methamphetamine, 25 grams of heroin, 5 grams of fentanyl, 46 grams of cocaine, and 12 ounces of marijuana.
On Nov. 20, Cherry admitted to police at the Pennsylvania State Police Erie station that he bought $1,600 worth of methamphetamine and repackaged it to redistribute, the criminal complaint states.
The second arrest was in Titusville on March 20, 2025, when he was pulled over for erratic driving and told officers he had “a bunch of junk meth.” Officers found about 17.64 grams of cocaine, 625.7 grams of methamphetamine, packaging materials and drug paraphernalia.
He posted $300,000 bail but was arrested again on May 2 in Oil City. After being granted a search warrant, Oil City Police Department officers found the meth along with other narcotics, $1,840 in cash, packaging material and paraphernalia.
Cherry was convicted of a felony charge in federal court in 2007 and sentenced to four years in prison. His prior conviction could cause a harsher sentence, but U.S. Attorney Paul Sellers said it depends on many variables.
“This is slightly different because of the weight of methamphetamine involved,” he said, explaining that the count to distribute over 500 grams of methamphetamine triggers a mandatory 10-year sentence.
If Cherry were convicted of all three charges, the minimum penalty would be 20 years in prison with a maximum of three life terms.
