A State College man was arrested on Friday for his alleged role in a plot to murder a former Centre County prosecutor.
State police said 56-year-old Dana Elroy Smith was a central figure in the thwarted murder-for-hire plan. He is charged with felony counts of criminal solicitation to commit homicide and criminal conspiracy to commit homicide.
Smith is being charged in Luzerne County, where ‘a significant step in the furtherance of the murder conspiracy was perpetrated,’ according to a state police new release.
State police and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms began investigating the case in September after being notified by Philadelphia police, who had learned of a plan to target a former prosecutor using a ‘hit man.’
Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis told the Wilkes-Barre Citizens’ Voice that the target was a former Centre County assistant district attorney. Smith was previously charged in Centre County in 2009 with victim or witness intimidation to give false testimony and withhold information, and in 2011 with physical harassment. In both cases Smith was convicted and sentenced to incarceration, and the former ADA targeted in the plot was a prosecutor in both cases.
At least two individuals involved in the plan were current or former inmates in the state correctional system, police said. Investigators allegedly found Smith and conspirators sent identifying information and the home address of the former prosecutor to potential hit men.
They also allegedly found that Smith used an intermediary to transfer large sums of money to an inmate involved with the scheme.
The Citizens’ Voice reported that two of the current or former inmates involved were housed at SCI-Dallas, in Jackson Township, Luzerne County.
On Friday, state troopers conducted an undercover operation in State College, where Smith allegedly made a money drop to what he believed was a hit man. He was taken into custody on Princeton Drive, then processed and interviewed at the Rockview barracks.
Smith is currently being held at the Centre County Correctional Facility. Salavantis told the Citizens’ Voice she expects him to be transferred to Luzerne County this week.
“Due to the diligence of our investigators and with the assistance provided by our partners, a potential tragedy was averted, and those responsible will be held accountable for their actions,’ Maj. Douglas Burig, director of the state police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, said in the news release.
State police and the ATF were assisted in the investigation by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole.
