PHILADELPHIA, PA — Matthew Romig, 38, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was sentenced last week to 57 months in prison for drug and gun offenses. United States District Court Judge Joseph F. Leeson Jr. also imposed six years of supervised release and a $900 special assessment following Romig’s guilty plea to all charges.
Romig was indicted in October 2024 on charges including five counts of controlled substance distribution, possession with intent to distribute, possession near a school or playground, possession of a firearm by a felon, and possession of an unregistered machine gun. He admitted to the crimes in January.
The investigation revealed that Romig repeatedly sold cocaine in Bethlehem, often within a few hundred feet of a community playground near his home. During a search of Romig’s vehicle and residence on July 26, 2024, authorities recovered over $760 in cash and more than 11 grams of cocaine. Inside his home on Hayes Street, investigators also found a .45 caliber Military Armament Corp MAC-10 machine pistol, an extended magazine, and a suppressor. The firearm, which had an obliterated serial number, was configured for full-automatic fire and was unregistered.
Romig, a convicted felon due to a 2005 robbery conviction in Lehigh County, was legally prohibited from possessing firearms.
“Matthew Romig endangered his community, selling cocaine and arming himself with a deadly weapon,” said United States Attorney David Metcalf. “He wasn’t allowed to have any firearm, let alone a submachine gun set to full automatic, with extended magazine and suppressor. It’s critical to get dangerous drugs off the street and illegal guns out of criminals’ hands, to crack down on violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer.”
Eric DeGree, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Philadelphia Field Division, added, “This criminal is going to federal prison, where he will no longer endanger this community. Together with our state and local partners, and the United States Attorney’s Office, we continue to make Pennsylvania’s communities safer from such dangerous criminals.”
This case was investigated by ATF, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, and the Bethlehem Police Department as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program.
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