EMPORIUM (EC) — Five individuals from Cameron and Potter counties were arrested this week by police following drug-related investigations involving a confidential informant and an undercover police officer.
The incidents are alleged to have occurred over last summer and throughout the last month, and some were investigated by the Northcentral Strike Force Unit drug task force.
Four of the defendants are accused of violating the Controlled Substances, Drugs, Device and Cosmetics Act, while the other is accused of stealing the funds intended for a purchase by a confidential informant.
Casey J. Strahl, 29 of Elmwood Drive in Emporium, has been charged with misdemeanor counts of theft by deception and receiving stolen property.
Police allege that Strahl agreed to purchase marijuana in Emporium for an informant and an undercover officer following a meeting at the Port Allegany Sheetz. Strahl was dropped off in downtown Emporium after he was given $100 in money from the Commonwealth to be used in the controlled buy.
According to the affidavit, Strahl agreed to purchase the marijuana, and also asked the informant if he was interested in purchasing “Roxy 15s,” a type of prescription pill. The officer messaged Strahl several times after he exited the vehicle, and received a few messages back stating Strahl had the marijuana. Strahl eventually stopped messaging the officer and never returned with the substance or money.
A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Strahl on Feb. 4 at 11:30 a.m. in front of Magisterial District Judge Barry Brown at the Emporium Courthouse.
Pedro Julio Lazu, 24, of South Broad Street in Emporium, is facing four felony counts and six misdemeanors following his sale of cocaine to an informant working with an undercover police officer. The incident is alleged to have occurred in the area of Fourth and Broad streets on Dec. 15 and 18 of 2014.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the informant met Lazu at Sheetz in Emporium and walked to Lazu’s home on South Broad, where he purchased two bags which were determined to contain 0.38 grams of cocaine.
On the second occasion, messages were sent via Facebook Messenger setting up the purchase between Lazu and the informant. Lazu arrived at the Emporium Sheetz as the passenger in a Chevrolet sedan, and the informant purchased six Ziploc bags containing 1.79 grams of cocaine in total. The informant paid $350 for the six bags of cocaine.
A preliminary hearing date has not yet been set for Lazu.
Cody J. Fledderman, 22, of Sizerville Road in Emporium, was charged with felony counts of criminal conspiracy and possession with intent to deliver and related misdemeanors for providing marijuana to a juvenile for sale to an informant.
According to police, a juvenile was picked up by the informant and undercover officer at an apartment complex containing several units located at 24 Sixth Street in the Emporium Borough on Aug. 16, 2014.
The juvenile then used the officer’s cell phone to set up a meeting with Fledderman, who got into the officer’s vehicle, as well. The juvenile then asked “Floatie,” as Fledderman is called, for “two.” Fledderman is alleged to have given the juvenile two baggie corners containing 1.98 grams of marijuana. The informant paid $40. The juvenile was returned to the Sixth Street Apartment after Fledderman exited the vehicle along Fourth Street.
Fledderman is awaiting a date for a preliminary hearing.
On June 24, 2014, Michael R. McNally, 29, of Bush Hill Road in Austin, is accused of having sold marijuana to an undercover informant who was working with an undercover police officer.
The informant and officer met McNally at his residence, where he agreed to purchase marijuana for them. McNally parked his automobile on Route 155 and the officer drove him to Emporium.
McNally related that when he “went in to get the ‘smoke’ he would have to sit for half an hour or 45 minutes and ‘Little John’ was paranoid and would not let people just run in and out.” McNally told the officer to drop him off at Dollar General and call him in about a half hour when he returned to pick up McNally.
Through laboratory testing it was determined that 3.1 grams of marijuana was purchased at a cost of $60.
A preliminary hearing has not yet been scheduled for McNally’s case.
Nathaniel Bickford, 19, last known address of West Allegany Avenue in Emporium, has been charged with felony counts for selling marijuana and criminal use of a communication facility and related misdemeanors for a January 2015 incident in which Bickford is alleged to have sold 2.83 grams of marijuana to the informant for $60 in the parking lot of the Emporium Sheetz.
Bickford was charged, along with the other defendants listed above, on Jan. 7, but Bickford’s case is listed as inactive. No preliminary hearing has yet been scheduled for this case.
