New Kensington man accused of dealing crystal meth, having illegal guns after home raided
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Lower Burrell police accused a man of dealing crystal meth and having illegal guns after police raided a home in New Kensington.
Daniel Allen Laws, 54, of the 1100 block of Constitution Boulevard was charged with two counts of illegal possession of a firearm and a count of possession of drugs with the intent to deliver, which are felonies, along with two other drug counts.
Laws was being detained in the Westmoreland County jail in lieu of a $150,000 cash bond, according to court records. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday before District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr.
Lower Burrell police and agents from the State Attorney General’s Office and the Westmoreland County Drug Task Force did a “knock and announce” raid at Laws’ home at 7 a.m. last Friday, according to a criminal complaint.
Officers heard noise inside, but nobody answered, so they broke through the front door and found Laws sitting on the living room sofa, the complaint said.
A woman in the master bedroom and two children younger than 8 who were in another bedroom were detained, police said.
Investigators said they found a safe in the house with a 46-gram bag of crystal methamphetamine inside that had a street value of about $2,400. That’s about 1.75 ounces. The drug was field tested with a positive result, they said.
Also found in the safe were 4.7 grams of suspected crack cocaine, various pills and drug packaging supplies, the complaint said.
Police said Laws also kept his cellphone and wallet, which had his driver’s license and $464 inside, in the safe.
A loaded revolver and a 9 mm pistol were found inside a box, they said.
Laws is forbidden to possess a gun because of a felony drug conviction in 2003, according to his arrest papers.
Ammunition for a .45-caliber gun, a bag of marijuana, empty stamp bags and five wax paper pouches containing an unknown white powder were found inside a black box during the search, according to the complaint.