Cops: 3 arrested in Jeannette after search finds cocaine, prescription pills
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Three members of a Jeannette family were arrested Wednesday after a search of their home by police and state narcotics agents turned up a large amount of suspected cocaine, prescription pills and drug packaging materials, according to court documents.
James W. Smith and Takeitha Smith, both 42, and Ronell L. Smith, 23, each were arrested on two counts of manufacturing, possession and delivery of a controlled substance and related charges after the home was searched by state agents and city police, according to court documents.
Ronell Smith also is charged with illegal possession of a 9 mm handgun, carrying a firearm without a valid permit and receiving stolen property after officers found the handgun in his waistband.
It was not immediately clear exactly how the trio are related.
They were arraigned before night court Judge Jason Buczak and ordered held in the county prison after they each failed to post $100,000 bond.
Court documents said the incident began when Jeannette Officer Scott Uria and state narcotics agent Rich Castagna approached the younger Smith on a city street. He, upon spotting the officers, “reached toward the right side of his waistband,” where they observed a handgun sticking out of his pants.
After being detained, Ronell Smith told officers he had a valid permit to carry a concealed weapon. However, Castagna and Uria said in court documents that his permit was revoked because of his criminal records and the gun he had was reported stolen.
Police then obtained a search warrant for his residence at 119 N. Seventh St. from District Judge Joseph DeMarchis. During the search, court documents state, officers seized more than a quarter pound of powdered cocaine, 31 grams of crack cocaine and numerous bags of prescription pills including Vicodin, a painkiller.
Police also seized multiple digital scales and “more than 100 items of drug packaging materials,” court documents state. Several boxes of 9 mm ammunition also were found, according to court documents.
“With the amount of narcotics recovered and no user paraphernalia, it is through my training and experience that this is indicative of narcotics trafficking,” Castagna and Uria wrote in court documents.
Preliminary hearings are scheduled Nov. 7 before DeMarchis.