CRANBERRY TWP — Undercover agents, confidential informants, recorded phone conversations, shipping records and property seized from multiple search warrants were among the tools used by police to build a case against an alleged million-dollar drug enterprise.

Richard D. Sallade, 71, and Patricia A. Quinn, 67, both of Cranberry, had their charges held for court Thursday after a preliminary hearing in district court that lasted nearly five hours.

The charges against both include corrupt organizations, dealing in unlawful proceeds, conspiracy — possession with intent to deliver synthetic marijuana and possession with intent to deliver.

They are accused of receiving large shipments of synthetic marijuana from out of state and arranging for it to be distributed to customers in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio between late 2012 and November 2014.

They allegedly sorted and stored the packages of synthetic marijuana in an empty storefront in Piazza Plaza on Route 19. Sallade owns and operates the Glass Gone Wow, formerly called Glass Gone Wild and Tobacco For Less, in the same plaza.

In 2014, police searched Sallade and Quinn’s apartment and found about $190,000 in cash. Another $228,000 was seized from bank accounts.

Police also seized more than 360 pounds of synthetic marijuana, carrying an estimated street value of $1.6 million, from a storage unit and from several packages intercepted at a UPS facility in Jackson Township.

Synthetic marijuana, often called “potpourri,” is a drug made by compounding a schedule I controlled substance in powder form with acetone to dilute it. The mixture is then sprayed on a green leafy material and dried.

Before 2012, it was legal in some places, but 26 types of synthetic cannabinoids and cathinones were declared Schedule I substances by the Synthetic Drug Abuse Prevention Act, part of the FDA Safety and Innovation Act of 2012.

Two men also charged for their alleged involvement in the conspiracy Bruce A. Johnson, 68, of Monaca, Beaver County, and Craig W. Pfister, 50, of Prospect, waived their charges to court.

Johnson and Pfister both cooperated with the investigation, which was led by the Attorney General’s Bureau of Narcotics Investigation.

Kristen Johnson, an agent with the narcotics bureau, went undercover as a customer and allegedly made purchases from both Pfister and Bruce Johnson on 14 occasions between September 2013 and November 2014.

Kristen Johnson said Thursday that she took over the undercover operation from another narcotics agent in 2013 who introduced her to Pfister as a relative.

She said she would buy from Pfister regularly in the parking lot of Tri-County Soccer and Sports Complex on Freedom Road in New Sewickley Township, Beaver County.

Eventually she approached Pfister and revealed that she was with law enforcement. He agreed to cooperate and introduced her to Bruce Johnson, and she started buying from Johnson, who allegedly was storing synthetic marijuana in two storage lockers in Vanport, Beaver County.

Bruce Johnson later was also convinced to cooperate with the investigation and both Pfister and Johnson agreed to meet or talk with Sallade while using hidden recording devices.

Trooper David Loeffler, of the state police’s southwest strike force unit, testified about multiple packages of synthetic marijuana sent to the UPS facility in Jackson Township in 2012 and 2013.

Police determined that eight packages were sent from Alex Mustafa from Tampa, Fla., to both the Tobacco for Less store and the UPS facility.

Mustafa was investigated but not charged, Loeffler said.

Loeffler said he interviewed Quinn and an employee from Sallade’s store when they allegedly went to the UPS location and tried to claim the packages, but they claimed that they were there to pick up a shipment of e-cigarettes, he said.

Bruce Johnson also gave testimony in court Thursday. He said that in 2013 he would regularly pick up synthetic marijuana from an empty storefront in the same plaza as Glass Gone Wow and deliver it to two “accounts” in Ohio.

Johnson said he was unsure if the product was legal or not. One of the accounts in Ohio was a smoke shop that would sell the packets openly in the store, he said.

“At times we would talk about it being in a gray area,” he said about his conversations with Sallade about the legality of synthetic marijuana.

After the shipments from Florida were intercepted at the UPS center, he started driving to Boston, New York City, Newark, N.J., and Harrisburg to pick up synthetic marijuana from contacts, he said.

He stored it in his storage lockers in Vanport and would deliver it to accounts in Pennsylvania and West Virginia and to agent Johnson, he said.

Sallade would arrange the distribution and keep inventory, but did not have contact with the drugs, he said.

“He wanted it at arm’s length, he didn’t want it near him,” he said.

Chris Capozzi, defense attorney for Quinn, argued for having the charges against his client dropped.

He noted that Quinn is accused of taking money and giving out garbage bags of synthetic marijuana, but these activities could have been part of Sallade’s legitimate business.

“The circumstantial evidence is simply too far apart to connect the dots in this case,” he said.

Prosecuting attorney Maureen Sheehan-Balchon countered that the money seized from Quinn and Sallade’s apartment was evidence of a criminal conspiracy.

“Some of their business is legitimate, but legitimate businesses don’t deal with thousands of dollars in stacks of money in cardboard boxes or products placed in garbage bags hidden in a location other than their retail store,” she said.

Stephen Misko, defense attorney for Sallade disputed two of the eight felony charges against his client. The prosecution had insufficient evidence to prove that Sallade ever had possession of a controlled substance, he said.

Quinn, Sallade, Bruce Johnson and Pfister, all free on bail, will appear in county court in May.