Several local and state law enforcement officers received awards Monday from the Law Enforcement Agency Directors of Western Pennsylvania.

Twenty-one officers were recognized, including state Trooper Thomas W. Schuster, who was the lead investigator in the June 2006 homicide of Gabrielle Miranda Bechen, 12, of Greene County. The defendant in that case, Jeffrey R. Martin, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.

Also recognized was Special Agent Theodore L. Hoover of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who led an undercover investigation into the illegal trafficking of firearms to convicted felons. During a search of one home, officers found more than 425 firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

That defendant, Curt Radovich, is scheduled to plead guilty in federal court Dec. 8 before Chief U.S. District Judge Donetta W. Ambrose.