Cracking drug cases, working pope's security: Erie native wraps up long state police career

Mark Weindorf spent much of his Pennsylvania State Police career watching the rise and fall of certain narcotics as they flowed into the Erie region.

And a good bit of time fighting to stem the flow.

Weindorf, 52, who retired Friday after 31 years with the state police, spent the early part of his career battling the scourge of crack cocaine while assigned as a trooper to the FBI's Erie Area Gang Law Enforcement task force.

"It was destroying people," he said of the drug.

As a full-time member of the state police Bureau of Drug Law Enforcement and later as a vice officer for state police Troop E in Lawrence Park Township, Weindorf witnessed the rise in heroin and was on the front lines in the fight to stamp out an explosion of methamphetamine labs that littered the Erie region for a time.

The illicit drug of choice for sellers and users would move on to oxycontin, crystal methamphetamine and opioids including the deadly fentanyl, now blamed in the vast majority of Erie County's drug deaths in recent years, as Weindorf earned promotions and served as a station commander, section leader and finally crime section supervisor for Troop E.

Although a little less than half of Weindorf's state career was focused solely on drug investigations, he said that work was worthwhile and very fulfilling to him.

"Because if you look at all of the crimes out there, so many of them boil down to where there is some type of drug usage or there is a drug component to most crimes we had out there, thefts, burglaries, assaults, even homicides," he said.

Following dad's footsteps and making a difference

Weindorf said he knew as a little boy that he wanted to be a policeman like his father. His dad, Joe Weindorf, was a longtime Erie police officer and detective who later served as magisterial district judge in Erie and as public safety director for the city and Erie County.

Weindorf joined the state police at age 21 in 1993 and initially worked in Kittaning out of Troop D before being assigned to his hometown in Troop E and spending the rest of his career there. His younger brother also became a state police trooper and retired in July following a 25-year career.

"Being able to work in Erie, the community he grew up in, and give back to the community where he grew up and where he knows everybody is a great way to spend a career," Troop E. commander Capt. Kirk Reese said.

''I've always loved public service. I loved being able to make a difference within our community, make arrests, investigate crimes that are affecting the quality of life for everyone," Weindorf said. "Just doing everything you can to affect the quality of life for the people that we serve."

Weindorf cites as some of the highlights of his career a number of significant drug cases that led to large seizures of illegal drugs that were kept from flowing to the streets in the Erie area, and the Roman Catholic's assignment in 2015 to the security detail during Pope Francis's visit to Philadelphia.

Weindorf said three recent homicide cases also stand out because of the effort the criminal investigators under his command put into clearing them up.

One was the murder in February of Rebekah A. Byler, a pregnant Amish woman who was killed in her eastern Crawford County home. Weindorf said state police had no suspects or leads at the start, but through an intensive five-day investigation were able to identify and charge a suspect in Byler's death.

"To me, it was very happy to see an arrest being made and being able to make that community feel safe again," he said.

The second was the investigation into the disappearance and suspected death in 2023 of Summit Township resident Michael Maisner. He said state police were behind the 8-ball initially as investigators believe Maisner was killed a week or more before his family first reported Maisner missing. The tireless efforts of investigators would lead state police to charge a woman in the crime, Weindorf said.

The third was the discovery in November of the body of Nashville resident Michelle Lee Tayse along Interstate 90 in Greene Township. Tayse died of stab wounds, and her body had been burned. State police also had no leads to go on initially, but through efforts including sending a team of investigators to Nashville state police have developed significant leads and are putting information together to bring the case to closure, Weindorf said.

"The Troop E Major Case Team, the investigators and supervisors, just do a phenomenal job investigating these cases and leading these cases and leaving no stone unturned and using all available resources and clearing these cases. They do a phenominal job, and I'm really proud of them for how well they do," Weindorf said.

Weindorf said he loved the camaraderie in his job, as he often worked in small units. And he said he will miss the relationships built on the job, not just through the state police but with other law enforcement officers and the community at large.

"You get a real good exposure to a lot of different people working a job like this, and that's something I'll really miss. Just the networking and the people that you meet and the relationships you build. Everybody kind of has a common goal, to make our community safe and be able to live a happy life," he said.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNhahn.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie native wraps up long career with the Pennsylvania State Police