Mandi Litzinger
Introduction
Mandi Litzinger, 44, of Cherry Tree, Pennsylvania, was found guilty by a federal jury on July 20, 2026, of distribution of fentanyl resulting in serious bodily injury and death and conspiracy to distribute fentanyl — the counts charging that fentanyl she distributed in February 2021 killed another person . The jury deliberated for one hour at the end of a week-long trial before United States District Judge Stephanie L. Haines in Johnstown, in a verdict announced the next day by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania .
Background Information
The evidence at trial established the distribution at the center of the case: on or about February 12, 2021, in the Western District of Pennsylvania, Litzinger distributed a quantity of a mixture and substance containing fentanyl, and the jury separately determined that this distribution resulted in the serious bodily injury and death of another individual . In and around February 2021, she also conspired to distribute fentanyl — the conspiracy count capturing the arrangement with others around the same distribution window .
Fentanyl-distribution-death prosecutions rest on that two-part finding: that the defendant distributed the drug, and that its use is what injured and killed the person who received it. The jury returned both findings — the distribution and the resulting death — after the week of testimony, and the one-hour deliberation signaled how little the panel wrestled with them. The death finding is what separates this conviction from an ordinary drug-distribution case and what activates the statutory sentencing floor that follows it . The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Pennsylvania State Police, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Maureen Sheehan-Balchon and Hillary M. Weaver .
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Convicted by a jury; sentencing pending.
The verdict carries a mandatory minimum floor: the law provides for a maximum total sentence of not less than 20 years and up to life in prison, a fine of up to $1 million, or both — the statutory range for distribution resulting in death . Judge Haines scheduled sentencing for November 19, 2026, where the guidelines calculation and any variance arguments will set the final term within that range .
The conviction dates to conduct five years before the trial. The February 2021 distribution — the single event the death finding attaches to — sat unadjudicated until the DEA and state police investigation produced the week-long trial in Johnstown in July 2026 . The release records no statement from Litzinger and no defense comment; the account of the case is the trial record’s outcome — two guilty verdicts, a death finding, and a November sentencing date .
Public Reaction and Consequences
The release records no victim-family statement and no community reaction; the response on the record is the jury’s. The consequences are the conviction itself — a federal record establishing that fentanyl Litzinger distributed killed someone — and the sentencing hearing to come, with its not-less-than-20-years floor . For Cherry Tree, the case documents a local distribution network’s fatal endpoint: the fentanyl moved in February 2021 was traced, through a federal investigation, to the person now convicted of distributing it .
Current Status
Litzinger has been convicted and awaits sentencing. The guilty verdicts were returned July 20, 2026; sentencing is set for November 19, 2026, before Judge Haines, with the statutory range at 20 years to life plus a possible $1 million fine . The release does not state whether she remains in custody pending sentencing, whether a motion for acquittal or new trial was filed, or the government’s sentencing position; the conviction on both counts is final pending that hearing .
Impact on Their Career/Life
The conviction attaches to Litzinger the finding a fentanyl dealer’s record carries at its heaviest: that the drug she distributed is what killed another person. At 44, she faces a minimum of two decades in federal prison — the sentencing floor that places her release, at the earliest, in her mid-sixties . The release describes no occupation or family circumstances, so the documented impact is the verdict, the death finding, and the November 19 sentencing that will fix the term — the public record that now ties her name to the February 2021 distribution and the death the jury found it caused .
Sources
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Pennsylvania, “Federal Jury Finds Cherry Tree Resident Guilty of Distributing Fentanyl Resulting in Death”, July 21, 2026 — source