BELLEFONTE — A 34-year-old State College man will spend the next seven to 14 years behind bars after entering open guilty pleas to numerous drug charges.
The pleas and sentencing were handled in the Centre County of Court of Common Pleas before Judge Katherine V. Oliver. In addition to the prison sentence, Joseph Richard Mishock was ordered to serve two years of consecutive, state-monitored probation.
Police began their investigation into Mishock in August 2015 when a confidential informant told the Centre County Drug Task Force that “The Trypnotist” was selling MDMA, LSD, crystal methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana in the State College area.
The Centre County District Attorney’s Office said Mishock was previously known to law enforcement from a case in 2010 when he sold marijuana to a confidential police informant on two occasions. Then, a warrant was issued for his arrest; however, he fled to California where he eluded authorities for several years before being arrested in San Francisco. He was extradited back to Centre County in August 2013 and he entered guilty pleas to delivery and possession of a controlled substance.
Authorities said Mishock sold crystal methamphetamines to confidential informants in Centre County on March 31, 2016, and on April 21, 2016. In May, the drug task force conducted a search warrant at his apartment and recovered numerous smoking devices, a Taser, marijuana, false IDs bearing Mishock’s photos, money order receipts, crystal methamphetamine, digital scales, U.S. currency and numerous other unidentified substances.
Drug task force members later obtained a search warrant and found a package of crystal methamphetamine weighing 92.6 grams with a street value of about $9,700 at a UPS Store mailbox rented by Mishock.
“People who deal dangerous drugs in our community must be held accountable for the destruction they cause,” said Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller.
