Retired Greensburg police officer Regina McAtee pleads guilty to methamphetamine distribution

A retired Greensburg police officer on Wednesday became a lawbreaker in the eyes of the criminal justice system she once upheld.

Regina McAtee, 51, of New Kensington, who had been with the city force for more than 19 years, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Vasquez Schmitt laid out evidence against McAtee that showed she conspired with former Greensburg police chief Shawn Denning between November 2020 and January 2023 to order and pay for drugs from suppliers online. Vasquez Schmitt said the pills they ordered contained methamphetamine.

McAtee volunteered to have the pills — at first 10 to 20 an order, which progressed to 100 at a time — shipped to her home, the prosecutor said.

“Ms. McAtee would use some of the pills but would supply and sell some of the pills to Denning,” she said.

Investigators said there were Cash App payments made by McAtee to the online suppliers. Text messages between McAtee and Denning showed they were working together, Vasquez Schmitt said.

In one of those messages related to 100 pills that was read aloud in Pittsburgh federal court Wednesday, Vasquez Schmitt said McAtee told Denning to “sell 40 and make money back and keep 60.”

McAtee did not comment, other than to say “Yes, your honor” and “No, your honor.” Her attorney declined to comment afterward.

“As a sworn police officer, Regina McAtee’s job was to stop drug dealing,” U.S. Attorney Eric G. Olshan said in a statement. “Instead, she worked with her boss at the time, Shawn Denning, to push more methamphetamine out into the community. Our office and our law enforcement partners will continue to aggressively pursue and prosecute drug dealing, regardless of whether it’s being committed by citizens on the street or those who wear a badge.”

Denning was arrested at city hall in January 2023 in connection with the investigation. Weeks later, McAtee was suspended without pay for five months. She and Denning worked together for several years.

McAtee was allowed to retire in July.

McAtee received her first pension payment of $5,160 on Aug. 1, according to information provided to TribLive under a Right-to-Know Law request. Those payments have continued monthly through April 1.

She was charged by criminal information March 13 in federal court in Pittsburgh. It’s unclear whether McAtee will continue to receive a pension. She is scheduled for sentencing Aug. 22.

Denning pleaded guilty April 16 to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine.

He admitted to communicating with a government informant starting in July 2021 and connecting that person with drug dealers in California to buy cocaine and methamphetamine, according to the original complaint filed in January 2023 in federal court in Pittsburgh by the Drug Enforcement Administration. That would continue for 15 months, according to court papers.

The complaint included conversations between Denning and the informant on smartphone apps where Denning is accused of providing contact information for the out-of-state suppliers and a “menu” of their available drugs, as well as how to transmit money to them electronically.

Meanwhile, he rose through the ranks of the police department until becoming chief in March 2022.

Staff writer Quincey Reese contributed.