SAXONBURG — A Slippery Rock University student is headed for an unexpected education in the criminal justice system following his arrest on charges of selling marijuana to a police informant.

Mitchell S. Kohler, 22, of Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County, on Wednesday turned himself in to county narcotics officers at District Judge Sue Haggerty’s office in Saxonburg.

The Butler County Drug Task Force last week obtained an arrest warrant for Kohler, who is accused of dealing marijuana in Slippery Rock.

Haggerty arraigned the suspect 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 was released on $20,000 unsecured bail following arraignment.

Kohler is a senior at SRU and is majoring in environmental geoscience, university officials said. He could not be reached for comment.

The drug task force in January began investigating the defendant, according to court documents, after officers received information that he was trafficking marijuana out of his house on Normal Avenue in Slippery Rock.

Investigators used an informant to set up a pair of controlled buys between Jan. 1 and May 1. The suspect and informant talked on cell phones to arrange the deals.

Kohler, in each transaction, sold an ounce of marijuana for $220, officers said. The alleged deals were made at the suspect’s home and at an unspecified location.

His preliminary hearing in the case is tentatively set for May 18 before District Judge William O’Donnell in Slippery Rock.