Butler police for the second time in consecutive weeks have made a large drug bust.

City officers, acting on an anonymous tip Saturday afternoon, arrested three suspects on their way back from Pittsburgh’s Hill District, seizing nearly 500 bags of suspected heroin.

Nabbed with the alleged drugs hidden in her pants was Tasha L. McCardle, 25, of Butler, who was already free on bail while awaiting trial on charges stemming from her arrest in December when she was allegedly caught with 90 bags of heroin in Butler Township.

Along with McCardle, a single mother of a 5-year-old daughter, city police arrested two drug felons, Leo E. McTurner Sr., 65, and Ronald K. Musick, 45, both of Butler.

District Judge Sue Haggerty arraigned all three defendants on felony charges of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and conspiracy, and misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance.

McCardle also is charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. She is in the Butler County Prison on $50,000 bail.

McTurner and Musick are in the county prison on $25,000 bail each.

The arrests followed a tipster’s call telling police that Musick was driving McCardle and McTurner to Pittsburgh to buy drugs, according to court documents.

The caller offered police detailed information including a description of the car, its license plate number and when the trio would leave to make their purported drug run.

Patrol officers Nathan Shulik and David Villotti set up surveillance on Route 8 to await the suspects’ return trip to Butler, police said. The officers about 1:10 p.m. Saturday spotted the defendants’ car and stopped it at South Main and East Wayne streets.

Villotti at the car noticed a “large bulge” in McCardle’s waistband and ordered her out of the vehicle, documents said. Police said she immediately admitted she had drugs in her pants.

A search at the prison turned up 490 bags of heroin, worth about $6,000 on the street, police said.

Inside her purse, officers found five empty bags of heroin, two used hypodermic needles and other drug contraband.

During an interview with police, McCardle acknowledged that Musick had driven her and McTurner to Pittsburgh to buy heroin documents said.

She recounted that once there, McTurner got out of the car alone and went to an undisclosed location where he allegedly bought the drugs.

Musick corroborated McCardle’s account, police said, telling officers that McTurner had contacted him for a ride to Pittsburgh.

In exchange, McTurner promised Musick that he would “make it worth (Musick’s) while, according to a police affidavit. Musick’s alleged reward was five bags of heroin.

During their arraignment, all three defendants told Haggerty that they are unemployed and have criminal records.

Butler Township police on Dec. 20 arrested McCardle on a domestic relations warrant. A search later found her with 90 bags of heroin, police said.

She was placed in the county prison on felony and misdemeanor drug charges. But after waiving those charges to court at her Jan. 8 preliminary hearing, her $10,000 bail was reduced to $5,000 unsecured bail and she was released, court records showed.

In addition to that case, McCardle is awaiting trial on two other cases for possession of drug paraphernalia.

McTurner also has a pending case in county court for possession of drug paraphernalia. His criminal record dates back to 1976 and includes five felony convictions, two for drug possession and three for burglary, all in Allegheny County.

In 1994, he was sentenced to 2 to 6 years in state prison for possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.

Musick in 2006 was sentenced in Butler County court to nine months in county prison for felony drug possession, records showed.

Saturday’s arrest comes eight days after Butler police nabbed four Philadelphia men with 592 stamp bags of suspected heroin and 305 bags of crack cocaine, following a traffic stop on North Jackson Street.