TRIB: Police: Bust leads to $90K in raw fentanyl in Ligonier

BY RENATTA SIGNORINI

COURTESY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE

About $90,000 worth of raw fentanyl in powder form was confiscated from a Cambria County man Tuesday after an arrest in Ligonier Borough, according to authorities. Cortez M. Haselrig, 25, who lives near Johnstown, is being held at Westmoreland County Prison on charges of drug possession, criminal use of a communication facility and resisting arrest. His bail was set at $500,000. The arrest is connected to a four-month drug trafficking investigation spanning the two counties, authorities said.

Haselrig is the son of former Pittsburgh Steelers guard Carlton Haselrig, according to police sources. Carlton Haselrig died in 2020.

The major arrest was part of a joint investigation among state police, Westmoreland County detectives, the Department of Homeland Security and Ligonier Valley and Penn Township police, said District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli and Trooper Steve Limani. The county was designated two years ago by federal authorities as a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, meaning more resources and investigative help has been directed locally. Westmoreland County Detective Tony Marcocci labeled Haselrig an “upper-level dealer” who was getting raw fentanyl in a powder form and cutting it to make individual doses to sell on the streets. Investigators typically find such quantities of drugs coming from Allegheny County, but not in this case, he said. “This is coming in the opposite direction,” Marcocci said.

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