Mt. Pleasant man accused by state agents of selling heroin, meth from Norvelt home
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Agents with the state attorney general’s office allege that a Mt. Pleasant man used a home in the bedroom community of Norvelt as a base for a drug sales operation for several months.
David Meade Keefer, 33, was arrested Thursday at the well-kept, two-story frame home at 1136 West Laurel Circle in Mt. Pleasant Township on multiple drug possession and trafficking charges dating back to January. East Huntingdon District Judge Charles Moore ordered Keefer held in the county prison after he failed to post $100,000 bond.
One neighbor, who declined to be identified, said he “really didn’t notice” a lot of traffic in and out of the house but he did suspect something was up.
“There were a bunch of cop cars there just one month ago and, then, there were several police cars again there yesterday,” he said.
Agent Jerry Vernail reported in court documents filed with Moore that, on Sept. 24, county sheriff’s deputies went to the home to serve Keefer with an arrest warrant in an assault case filed against him Feb. 3 by state police in Greensburg and deputies noticed drug paraphernalia laying in the house “in plain view.”
Vernail said he went to the home and spoke with the woman who owns the home, who gave officers permission to search the house. During the search, Vernail said investigators seized nearly 10 bricks of heroin, methamphetamine and various drug packaging materials, scales and empty stamp bags.
Court documents said Keefer was arraigned on the assault charges and released on recognizance bond pending the formal filing of drug possession charges.
Vernail disclosed in a separate complaint that, while Keefer was released on recognizance bond, agents continued to keep him under surveillance.
On Oct. 6, agents saw a man pull into the driveway on West Laurel Circle and pick up Keefer. Court documents said agents followed the pair to a parking lot at the nearby Norvelt Fire Hall, where Vernail said he and another agent watched an alleged drug transaction between the pair.
Agents later questioned the alleged buyer, who told agents he bought 10 stamp bags of heroin from Keefer.
Vernail said agent Richard Miller and he returned to the West Laurel Circle home with Keefer after the drug sale and seized 63 more stamp bags of heroin there marked “Sugar Hill.” The home’s owner, who is not charged, told investigators Keefer has lived at the home for several months, court documents said.
No one answered the door at the Norvelt home Friday.
In court documents filed before Moore this week, Keefer listed an address on the 500 block of Washington Street as his residence.
When state agents arrested Keefer Thursday, he also was arraigned in connection with an alleged heroin and methamphetamine sale Jan. 22 in East Huntingdon Township. In the January case, court documents said state troopers provided a confidential informant with $150 to buy the drugs as troopers watched the transaction.
Prior to this year, on-line court records indicate Keefer had no prior criminal record.