The state Superior Court has rejected an appeal from a Bradford man who claimed his cocaine sale to an informant in 2015 was entrapment.

James Howard Fowler, 67, was convicted in McKean County Court in 2016 of one of the largest cocaine delivery cases in county history — one that resulted in the forfeiture of his property, said District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer.

Fowler delivered cocaine to a confidential informant of the McKean County Drug Task Force. The criminal complaint originally filed in the case indicated the crimes took place on March 25 and April 1, 2015. On March 25, a confidential informant of the McKean County Drug Task Force purchased one gram of cocaine from Fowler at his residence for $100. The sale was arranged via cellphone.

On April 1, the same informant purchased 15 grams of cocaine from Fowler at his residence for $800. After the purchase, Fowler and the informant left Fowler’s residence in the informant’s vehicle, which was subsequently stopped by police. Fowler was taken into custody at the time and was found to be in possession of 8 grams of cocaine and one marijuana cigarette, court records read.

A search warrant was obtained for Fowler’s residence. There, police found cocaine packaged for sale, paraphernalia items including a digital scale and a grinder, court records read. At trial, he was convicted of charges including possessing with intent to deliver 82 grams of cocaine.

Shaffer said that at trial in 2016, Fowler argued that he was friends with the informant and, but for that close relationship, he would not have delivered cocaine or possessed cocaine with the intent to deliver. The jury rejected his claim and Fowler was convicted and incarcerated for several years at sentencing. He appealed his conviction and the Superior Court denied it.

Since then, she continued, Fowler has filed motions alleging his attorneys were ineffective and that the trial court erred regarding the instructions to the jury and in allowing the introduction of evidence regarding a prior conviction for drug delivery, among other things.

The Superior Court denied his latest appeal in a recent decision. The court rejected his assertion that he was “entrapped” by the informant and only delivered drugs because she was a friend who asked for them. The court explained that such an assertion does not support a defense of entrapment. The Superior Court noted that the prosecution presented overwhelming evidence to discredit Fowler’s testimony and that evidence of Fowler’s prior conviction was actually highlighted by his own defense attorney when he elicited testimony about that conviction from Chief County Detective Ryan Yingling, who was the lead investigator on the case.

Shaffer commented on the decision, lauding the work of local law enforcement.

“This investigation yielded a large amount of cocaine, particularly for our area on a single incident, and the detectives with the McKean County Drug Task Force worked the case tirelessly — positioning officers in distinct points of surveillance, triangulating cameras at various locations to maximize surveillance, planning and executing a traffic stop and seizing additional substances and money that had been pre-marked to allow for its tracking, and executing a search warrant at the residence and locating a much larger amount of cocaine and evidence of a much larger operation,” Shaffer said.

“The investigatory techniques that are required to be utilized in large drug investigations must be coordinated and executed with precision and I personally saw the expertise exhibited by the detectives while prosecuting the case that led to a successful prosecution, which has been upheld by the Superior Court twice,” she continued.

Entrapment, Shaffer said, requires an offender to show that someone induced the commission of a crime by someone other than one ready to commit it.

“Entrapment is a defense often attempted in drug cases throughout the entire country but usually easily able to be refuted in a trial given the strength of the investigations and the investigatory steps taken by the detectives who are highly trained and experienced and who receive additional certifications in their field.”

If you suspect illegal drug activity, contact the McKean County Drug Task Force at McKeanDA.org or (814) 887-3312.