Photographer Gets 12 Years for Selling Drugs to Ballplayers

Dale M. Shiffman, an unemployed photographer, was sentenced by a federal judge in Pittsburgh Monday to 12 years in federal prison for selling cocaine, mainly to major league baseball players.

U.S. District Judge Barron McCune imposed no fine or court costs against Shiffman, who pleaded guilty Aug. 19 to 20 counts of cocaine distribution from 1982 to 1984, mostly to former Pittsburgh Pirates’ pitcher Rod Scurry and to Kevin Koch, the former Pirate Parrot mascot.

Shiffman, 33, of suburban Bethel Park, Pa., will be eligible for parole at the discretion of the federal parole board, McCune said, meaning it is likely that he will serve only a fraction of his sentence.

The government also dropped 91 other cocaine distribution charges brought when Shiffman and six other Pennsylvania men were indicted by a federal grand jury May 31 of dealing cocaine to major league players.