PENN TWP — A convicted heroin dealer was arraigned today on new felony drug charges following his arrest in May for suspected drugged driving.

Middlesex Township police stopped the suspect, Nicholas J. Rodgers, 25, of Butler, on May 9 after he sped past an officer on Route 8 at Thorncrest Road in Penn Township.

Police noticed drug contraband in the center console. A search of his sport utility vehicle turned up a bag with 48 bags of suspected heroin, two empty stamp bags and a syringe.

Rodgers allegedly admitted that he had used heroin an hour before driving. A toxicology report subsequently confirmed heroin in his system.

District Judge Sue Haggerty arraigned Rodgers on charges of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, driving under the influence of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Rodgers was placed in the Butler County Prison on $10,000 bail.

It's not the first time he's been in jail on felony drug charges.

The county Drug Task Force in 2008 arrested Rodgers in Butler after authorities found him with more than $2,000 in currency and 75 bags of heroin. Two months earlier, Butler police had arrested him after finding 27 bags of heroin at his Mitchell Avenue house.

He later pleaded guilty to felony drug possession in both those 2008 cases and was sentenced to 9 to 18 months in the county prison. He also was placed on four years' probation.