When Westmoreland County sheriff’s deputies searched the closet of a Unity mobile home last week, they found more than the 24-year-old fugitive they said had been dodging authorities for nearly three months, court documents reveal.
According to complaints filed Wednesday by state troopers, Collin A. Quakenbush of Latrobe was discovered along with 1,168 stamp bags of suspected heroin plus a metal container, a glass jar and two plastic baggies containing methamphetamine, $2,850, smoking pipes and a digital scale.
Deputy Robbie Orbin reported finding Quakenbush hiding in a crawl space in a bedroom, above a water heater, in the Daily Avenue residence of Katelyn Stevens, 25. Orbin reported Stevens had claimed for weeks that Quakenbush was not there despite witnesses telling deputies otherwise.
Orbin obtained a search warrant Feb. 4 after three men pulled up while deputies were watching the property and claimed they were there to see Quakenbush.
According to state troopers from Greensburg, after Orbin pulled Quakenbush from the closet, deputies also seized 23 bricks of suspected heroin marked “6666,” including some stuffed in brown slippers. Most of the methamphetamine was next to Quakenbush in the closet, authorities reported.
The cash was found on the bed, troopers said.
Quakenbush was arraigned Wednesday on new charges of illegal possession of a controlled substance, illegal possession and delivery of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and hindering prosecution.
Quakenbush was wanted on eight bench warrants for failing to appear at court hearings on multiple cases of conspiracy, possession of drug paraphernalia, retail thefts, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and a pending preliminary hearing for burglary and theft in Derry Township.
His $50,000 bond was revoked after his arrest last week. He is being held in the county jail. Preliminary hearings on the new charges are scheduled for March 1.
He was released from the county lockup in November after posting bond obtained from a bail bondsman, according to court dockets.
Stevens is charged with hindering apprehension of a fugitive by deputies. She also was charged this week with possession of a controlled substance and delivery of a controlled substance. She is free after posting $7,500 bond from a bail bondsman.
