Man faces drug charges
ZELIENOPLE — A borough man is accused of selling two ounces of marijuana to a police informant earlier this year.
Butler County Drug Task Force officers on Friday arrested 53-year-old William C. Bennett on drug trafficking charges. He is free on $30,000 bail.
The task force investigation began Feb. 24 when an informant told authorities that Bennett was selling marijuana in the Zelienople area, according to court documents.
The informant said Bennett offered to sell him an ounce of marijuana for $375.
A deal by cell phone was set up that day between the informant and Bennett, investigators said. The sale, with officers watching, was made outside the suspect’s home on South Main Street. A separate one-ounce deal for $375 was made March 11, again in a parking lot near Bennett’s apartment, documents said.
Analysis by the state police crime lab in Westmoreland County confirmed the substance was marijuana. In turn, the task force obtained an arrest warrant.
Bennett was arraigned on felony charges of delivery of a controlled substance, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and criminal use of a communication facility.
He also was arraigned on a misdemeanor charge of possession of a controlled substance.
On Friday he was placed in the county prison and released Sunday after posting bail.
