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Police arrested three alleged drug dealers in the city, in two separate cases last week, with the suspects being taken down within hours of each other.
Both drug busts were based upon lengthy investigations by the Carbondale and Mayfield Police Departments in conjunction with the Lackawanna County Drug Task Force.
The first case was initiated in December, according to the affidavit, when a confidential source informed Mayfield Police Chief Joseph Perechinsky that he had been purchasing crack cocaine from an unidentified black male in Carbondale. The source stated that these purchases always took place at the residence of Vernon Hall, 61, of 26 Belmont St. #6, with Hall and the black male — later identified as Michael Neal, 23 — providing him with the drugs.
The source said Hall was allowing Neal, address unknown, to stay with him at his residence. When they ran out of crack, Neal would go back to his home base somewhere outside the city, possibly outside the state, then return a few days later with another batch.
A background check that the Drug Task Force ran on Hall uncovered that he had been arrested numerous times since 1985, most recently on July 11 of this year, and that he had spent time in the state prison system.
At that point, Mayfield and Carbondale police officers, with the assistance of the Drug Task Force, initiated several “controlled buys” using Chief Perechinsky’s source as well as a second confidential informant. In each of these incidents, the informants purchased crack cocaine from Hall and Neal at Hall’s residence, allowing police to collect enough evidence to obtain and execute a search warrant isued by Magistrate Laura Turlip.
Police raided the residence on Thursday night, Jan. 26, and took both suspects into custody.
“We confiscated a pretty significant amount of drugs there,” offered Sgt. Patrick Lawler, one of the investigating officers, “a total of 104 grams of crack, with a street value of over $10,000.”
Lawler said baggies of crack were found inside a can of shaving cream with a false bottom inside the residence, along with a digital scale, a metal pipe used to ingest crack, several grams of marijuana, four glass pipes with marijuana residue in them, a box of sandwich bags used for packaging, and about $3,000 in cash.
“We also grabbed two cell phones, including the one they were using to arrange the drug buys,” Lawler related.
Hall and Neal were arrested on charges of possession with the intent to deliver crack cocaine, criminal conspiracy, simple possession, possession of a small amount of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The following morning, on Friday, Jan. 27, police executed a separate search warrant at the residence of Andrew Tressa, 18, of 163 Spring St., following an investigation by the same three agencies.
Tressa was taken into custody at 8:30 a.m. that day and charged with two counts each of possession of marijuana with the intent to deliver, possession of a small amount of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Sgt. Lawler stated that, during a search of Tressa’s house, police confiscated 10 grams of marijuana, baggies used for packaging, and the cell phone he was using for their controlled drug buys in the sting operation.
Police arrested three alleged drug dealers in the city, in two separate cases last week, with the suspects being taken down within hours of each other.
Both drug busts were based upon lengthy investigations by the Carbondale and Mayfield Police Departments in conjunction with the Lackawanna County Drug Task Force.
The first case was initiated in December, according to the affidavit, when a confidential source informed Mayfield Police Chief Joseph Perechinsky that he had been purchasing crack cocaine from an unidentified black male in Carbondale. The source stated that these purchases always took place at the residence of Vernon Hall, 61, of 26 Belmont St. #6, with Hall and the black male — later identified as Michael Neal, 23 — providing him with the drugs.
The source said Hall was allowing Neal, address unknown, to stay with him at his residence. When they ran out of crack, Neal would go back to his home base somewhere outside the city, possibly outside the state, then return a few days later with another batch.
A background check that the Drug Task Force ran on Hall uncovered that he had been arrested numerous times since 1985, most recently on July 11 of this year, and that he had spent time in the state prison system.
At that point, Mayfield and Carbondale police officers, with the assistance of the Drug Task Force, initiated several “controlled buys” using Chief Perechinsky’s source as well as a second confidential informant. In each of these incidents, the informants purchased crack cocaine from Hall and Neal at Hall’s residence, allowing police to collect enough evidence to obtain and execute a search warrant isued by Magistrate Laura Turlip.
Police raided the residence on Thursday night, Jan. 26, and took both suspects into custody.
“We confiscated a pretty significant amount of drugs there,” offered Sgt. Patrick Lawler, one of the investigating officers, “a total of 104 grams of crack, with a street value of over $10,000.”
Lawler said baggies of crack were found inside a can of shaving cream with a false bottom inside the residence, along with a digital scale, a metal pipe used to ingest crack, several grams of marijuana, four glass pipes with marijuana residue in them, a box of sandwich bags used for packaging, and about $3,000 in cash.
“We also grabbed two cell phones, including the one they were using to arrange the drug buys,” Lawler related.
Hall and Neal were arrested on charges of possession with the intent to deliver crack cocaine, criminal conspiracy, simple possession, possession of a small amount of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The following morning, on Friday, Jan. 27, police executed a separate search warrant at the residence of Andrew Tressa, 18, of 163 Spring St., following an investigation by the same three agencies.
Tressa was taken into custody at 8:30 a.m. that day and charged with two counts each of possession of marijuana with the intent to deliver, possession of a small amount of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Sgt. Lawler stated that, during a search of Tressa’s house, police confiscated 10 grams of marijuana, baggies used for packaging, and the cell phone he was using for their controlled drug buys in the sting operation.
