2 men held for trial in drug case
BUTLER TWP — The investigation into a suspected fatal drug overdose this month in Adams Township led police and narcotics officers to an Old Plank Estates apartment.
Inside the home, investigators said, officers found evidence of a drug-dealing operation — bags of suspected heroin and crack cocaine, owe sheets and more than $1,600.
Among the confiscated contraband, an officer testified at a preliminary hearing Thursday, were nearly two dozen glassine bags of heroin stamped with the name “The King.”
Eugene J. Smith III, 47, of Butler Township and Michael D. Burrows, 30, of Wilmerding, Allegheny County, were ordered Thursday to stand trial stemming from the discovery of drugs, money and other items.
Several bags with the same name and same gorilla's face on them were found days earlier and 16 miles away where 24-year-old Elizabeth Arblaster died of a suspected heroin overdose.
Arblaster of Cherry Township was found dead Sept. 3 in the bedroom of a home on Stoup Road in Adams Township that she had been visiting. Several stamp bags of heroin, some marked “The King,” investigators said, as well as syringes and a cooking spoon were found in the bedroom.
Arblaster's boyfriend admitted taking her to Smith's home Sept. 2 to buy heroin, according to Adams Township police Detective Michael Bailey.
Smith leases a two-bedroom apartment at Old Plank Estates, and police believe Burrows had also been staying there.
When officers served a search warrant for the apartment Sept. 8, they found both defendants there as well as four others.
In one bedroom, officers found 20 stamp bags of suspected heroin marked “The King” that were stashed in a plastic bag, Bailey said, and two baggies containing a “rather large” amount of suspected crack.
They also found $1,607 in a pair of pants belonging to Burrows and a set of keys to a Mercedes-Benz that he drove.
In the living room, police turned up several full and empty bags of heroin marked “KO,” and loaded syringes.
Bailey told prosecutor Ben Simon, a county assistant district attorney, that investigators believe the living room was being used as a “(drug) user room” and the back bedroom was the “dealer room.”
During questioning by Burrows' attorney, John Morgan, the detective acknowledged that at least some of the four suspected users that were also at the apartment had drugs on them.
Officers also obtained a second warrant to look through Burrows' Mercedes sport utility vehicle, finding additional evidence including $815 in the center console and a loaded .38-special revolver that was previously reported stolen from Bruin.Adams police Sgt. Edward Lenz also testified that Burrows has a prior federal court conviction for distribution of cocaine in West Virginia. That conviction prohibits him from possessing any firearms under Pennsylvania law.District Judge Kevin O'Donnell following testimony ruled both defendants be held for court on charges of felony and misdemeanor drug possession and conspiracy.Burrows alone also faces felony charges of receiving stolen property and illegal possession of a firearm. He and Smith remain in the Butler County Prison on $50,000 and $25,000 bail, respectively.
