Detectives arrest Hempfield man after seizing heroin, Xanax, firearms, $11K from home

Acting on tips, the Westmoreland County Drug Task Forced served a warrant at a Hempfield home this week and seized 61 bricks of heroin, Xanax pills, three handguns, a rifle, two Tasers and about $11,000, according to court documents.

After the search, county detectives charged the homeowner, Chad J. Gilbert, 51, with multiple counts of manufacture, delivery and possession of a controlled substance, possession of prohibited offensive weapons and drug paraphernalia.

He was ordered held in the county prison after failing to post $250,000 bond.

According to court records, Thursday’s search followed a 2020 search of Gilbert’s home in the 400 block of Beaver Road a year ago when state troopers seized about 30 bricks of suspected heroin and $20,000. Charges are pending in that case, authorities said.

County detectives Brad Buchsbaum and Tony Marcocci wrote in court documents that the heroin seized Thursday — with a street value of more than $30,000 — was discovered in a master bedroom of the home along with a loaded 9mm Taurus handgun.

When detectives served Gilbert with the search warrant Thursday morning he told them he had two bricks of heroin hidden in the bedroom, but officers found 61 bricks there, investigators reported. A brick of heroin contains 50 stamp bags of the drug.

More than $4,000 was found hidden in a bathroom vanity and $6,000 was found inside a plastic bag, tucked “in the rafters of the basement,” detectives wrote in court papers.

“Chad Gilbert stated that he would obtain quantities of heroin from a source in Allegheny County … then transport it back to his home,” detectives said in court papers.

Gilbert pleaded guilty in May to a retail theft complaint in Hempfield filed by state police and paid about $150 in fines and court costs, according to online court dockets.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 17.