City man faces felony drug, gun charges
Hearings are pending for a Butler man on separate felony drug and weapons charges.
Matthew Souverin, 37, is accused in connection with a state police drug investigation in 2019 and a subsequent search of his home on Spang Avenue last month.
Police vice officers said Souverin, a felon, on April 24, 2019, sold crack cocaine to a police informant during an alleged controlled drug deal in Butler that was arranged by cell phone.
On July 17, 2019, investigators received lab results that showed the crack purchased from the defendant weighed 1.02 grams, according to charging documents.
Police eventually obtained a sealed search warrant for Souverin's home July 24 of this year. Investigators said that warrant was connected to the drug investigation.
The defendant was not at his rental home when members of the state police Special Emergency Response Team executed the warrant, authorities said.
Vice officers searched the house, according to charging documents, and found a Forehand & Wadsworth pocket revolver, digital scales, unknown pills, plastic baggies and smoking pipes.
In Pennsylvania, people convicted of a felony are prohibited from possessing firearms. Police noted in documents that Souverin was convicted in 2010 of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, a felony.
Police obtained an arrest warrant for the suspect July 24 on the charges from the search warrant. Those charges include a felony count of persons not to possess firearms and a misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia.
On July 27, police charged him in connection with the 2019 drug investigation. Those charges are delivery or possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and criminal use of a communication facility, both felonies, and possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia, both misdemeanors.
Souverin turned himself in to authorities Thursday at the office of District Judge William Fullerton, who arraigned him on all charges.
He is free on $50,000 bail. Preliminary hearings in both cases are scheduled for Aug. 10. His attorney, Blaine Jones of Pittsburgh, did not immediately return a telephone call Monday.
