An undercover drug buy and a traffic stop Thursday night led to searches of two Arnold homes and the arrest of three men.
Arnold police Chief Eric Doutt said officers seized heroin, cocaine, marijuana and other drugs in the arrests, along with guns and cash.
Arrested were Glendon Scott Starr, 33, Eugene Sibley, 47, and Anthony Marsalis Howell, 32, all of Arnold.
Court documents said agents with the Attorney General’s Office worked with Arnold and New Kensington police to buy heroin and fentanyl from Starr and Sibley, who they said were working together.
An informant contacted Starr to buy heroin. The informant picked up Starr at his residence and took him to the 1800 block of Kenneth Avenue, where agents said Starr walked into a residence to meet with Sibley.
Starr left the residence and returned to the vehicle, where he turned over a quantity of suspected fentanyl.
Agents and officers got a search warrant for the Kenneth Avenue residence, where authorities found Sibley in the living room and four juveniles inside.
Police said they found 192 packets of suspected fentanyl, more than an ounce of cocaine, more than a half-ounce of ecstasy and three Suboxone tablets. Two pistols, one of which was stolen, and two boxes of ammunition were found, according to police. Authorities said they also seized about $1,600 in cash.
Traffic stop leads to arrest
Howell’s arrest came after a traffic stop.
Agents with the Attorney General’s Office had been conducting surveillance in the 1600 block of Kenneth Avenue when they saw an SUV heading north on Kenneth that didn’t signal when turning left onto Richmond Avenue. They asked a marked Arnold police car to make a traffic stop.
The SUV was stopped in the 1600 block of Constitution Boulevard. Howell was seen getting out of the front passenger door of the vehicle. Agents said they detected a strong odor of marijuana coming from him.
Police said Howell was carrying more than a half-ounce of marijuana and $116 in cash.
Doutt said Howell’s girlfriend allowed authorities to search her home on Constitution Boulevard, where he had been staying. Police said they found four bags of cocaine totaling about an ounce and a half of the drug and $2,000 in cash.
Doutt said police did not file any charges against Howell’s girlfriend.
All three men were arraigned Friday morning before District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr. in New Kensington. Pallone set each suspect’s bail at $100,000. All three were sent to the Westmoreland County Prison after failing to post bail.
Doutt said the arrests were the result of joint operations by local police, agents with the state Attorney General’s Office and the multi-municipal Community Emergency Response Team.
“Hopefully, there’s a lot more of that to come,” Doutt said.
