Beaver County resident Bruce A. Johnson, 69, was sentenced Thursday to 30 months probation for felony possession to commit distribution of a controlled substance. Johnson was one of four people charged with conspiracy to sell synthetic marijuana from an empty storefront near this Cranberry Township vape shop owned by Richard Sallade, 72, another of the alleged co-conspirators.

A Beaver County man charged alongside several others for his involvement in a million-dollar drug enterprise in Cranberry Township was sentenced Thursday to probation in Butler County Court

Bruce A. Johnson, 69, of Monaca, was sentenced to 30 months probation by Judge William Shaffer.

Johnson, a retired owner of a farmers market in Beaver County, apologized Thursday, saying he felt “great remorse” over his actions.

“I am very embarrassed by all of this,” he said. “It has humbled me.”

Johnson was also ordered to pay court costs, and Shaffer allowed the supervision to be transferred to Beaver County.

Johnson pleaded guilty Oct. 30 to felony conspiracy to commit possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.

He was initially charged with felony possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and one conspiracy count after an investigation by the state Attorney General's Office Bureau of Narcotics investigation into the sale and distribution of synthetic marijuana between May 1, 2012, and Nov. 20, 2014, in Butler, Allegheny and Washington counties.

Johnson was charged along with three other people: Craig W. Pfister, 52, of Prospect, Richard D. Sallade, 72, and Patricia A. Quinn, 69, both of Cranberry.

Johnson was accused of keeping synthetic marijuana in two storage lockers in Vanport, Beaver County, which he received from Sallade and Quinn, who were importing large shipments of synthetic marijuana from out of state and distributing the substances from an empty storefront in Cranberry Township to customers in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.

The distribution allegedly occurred in an empty storefront in Piazza Plaza on Route 19. Sallade owned and operated the Glass Gone Wow, formerly called Glass Gone Wild and Tobacco For Less, in the same shopping center.

Undercover purchases from Pfister led police to Johnson, and ultimately to Sallade and Quinn.

Johnson then told police that he would regularly pick up synthetic marijuana from Sallade and deliver it to two “accounts” in Ohio.

Sallade would arrange the distribution and keep inventory, but did not have contact with the drugs, Johnson testified at the preliminary hearing.

A total of more than 360 pounds of synthetic marijuana, with an estimated street value of $1.6 million, was seized from a storage unit and from several packages intercepted at a UPS facility in Jackson Township, according to previous reports.

Police determined that eight packages were sent from Tampa, Fla., to both the Tobacco for Less store and the UPS facility.

Also in 2014, in Sallade and Quinn's apartment, police allegedly found nearly $190,000 in cash, and another $228,000 was seized from a bank account.

Sallade pleaded guilty June 7 in the case to felony corrupt organizations, dealing in proceeds of illegal activity and two counts of delivery of a controlled substance, and was sentenced to nine to 18 months in Butler County Prison on Aug. 24, before being released onto house arrest for medical care.

Quinn pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance and delivery of a controlled substance on Aug. 7 and was sentenced to 60 months probation with four months on house arrest with electronic monitoring.

Pfister pleaded no contest to conspiracy and was sentenced to 36 months probation on Dec. 7.