A 4-Nation defendant is sentenced for drug dealing. How long will he be locked up?

Ed Palattella, Erie Times-News
·4 min read

A 31-year-old convicted fentanyl dealer and Erie gang associate has been sentenced to five years in federal prison.

His court appearances are not over. The sentence is expected to spur another sentence for his involvement in two shootings.

The defendant, Tyler D. Magee, was sentenced on Tuesday in connection with the 4-Nation gang case in federal court in Erie.

With that case resolved, Magee is on course to plead guilty and get sentenced in the shooting cases in Erie County Common Pleas Court, according to statements in court. One of the shootings occurred near the now-shuttered Super Chicken Lounge on State Street downtown.

The recommended sentence in the shooting cases is five to 10 years. The Erie County District Attorney's Office has said it will ask that Magee serve the new sentence after he serves the federal sentence.

Another defendant in the 4-Nation gang case was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Erie on Tuesday.
Another defendant in the 4-Nation gang case was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Erie on Tuesday.

Magee was indicted in U.S. District Court a year ago in the 58-defendant 4-Nation gang, racketeering and drug-trafficking case. He was charged with trafficking in fentanyl and methamphetamine as an associate of 4-Nation and not as one of the gang members. Wiretapped conversations were among the critical pieces of evidence against him.

The top 26 defendants in the 4-Nation case are accused of being gang members. The other 22 defendants, including Magee, were indicted on charges that they committed crimes in association with the accused gang members.

Magee pleaded guilty in January to conspiring to traffic in meth and fentanyl for about three years, ending in the spring of 2023. The U.S. Attorney's Office put the number of fentanyl pills that he distributed at 2,000.

Magee's sentence grew out of a plea deal

Magee is one of 17 defendants who have pleaded guilty or have arranged to plead guilty in the 4-Nation case — the largest-ever criminal prosecution in Erie. He is the fifth defendant to get sentenced in the case. Another sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday.

Magee faced a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison in the 4-Nation case due to the amount of drugs involved. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Sellers and the defense agreed on a five-year sentence as part of the plea deal.

U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter accepted the deal in sentencing Magee to five years. She also ordered him to serve four years of supervised release.

Magee, who has been in prison during his prosecution, declined to address Baxter. His court-appointed lawyer, Ryan James, of the Pittsburgh area, described Magee to Baxter as a recovering heroin and fentanyl addict and father of two children, 10 and 12. James said Magee lost his own father in a fatal shooting in 2013.

Magee hopes to study plumbing and electrical work while in prison, James said. He said Magee showed how much he wanted to accept accountability in the federal case by pleading guilty swiftly.

His case "wrapped up faster than most," James said.

What's next in Super Chicken case, other shooting?

Sellers told Baxter of the two pending cases in Common Pleas Court and how a resolution should occur soon now that the federal case against Magee had ended.

Magee was charged with attempted homicide and other counts in both shootings. He reached a deal with the prosecution when he waived both cases to Common Pleas Court at a preliminary hearing in October.

Magee was charged in a shooting near what was the Super Chicken Lounge, at 1015 State St., in the early morning of April 23, 2023. A woman was shot in the leg, police said. The city ordered the Super Chicken Lounge closed after another shooting seven days later.

A defendant sentenced in the federal 4-Nation gang case is awaiting prosecution in Erie County Common Pleas Court in two shootings, including one in April 2023 near the now-defunct Super Chicken Lounge, at 1015 State St.
A defendant sentenced in the federal 4-Nation gang case is awaiting prosecution in Erie County Common Pleas Court in two shootings, including one in April 2023 near the now-defunct Super Chicken Lounge, at 1015 State St.

At the time of the shooting near the Super Chicken, Magee was wanted on charges in a shooting in Erie on March 18. Police accused him of firing at a man in the 1100 block of East 11th Street. No injuries were reported.

In the two shooting cases, Magee is expected to plead guilty to aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and weapons charges, with the recommended prison sentence of five to 10 years, Chief Deputy District Attorney Jeremy Lightner said following the preliminary hearing.

In court on Tuesday, Baxter urged Magee to learn a trade when he is in prison and to stay away from drugs once he gets out.

"The is the time for you to work hard when you are incarcerated, so when you get out it is a new life for you and your family," Baxter said.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com or 814-870-1813. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie drug dealer sentenced for trafficking; gun charges loom