Butler police didn't have trouble sniffing out suspected drug activity at a home that was raided earlier this month.

The home is just a stone's throw away from the city police station.

“I probably pass it 50 times a day,” Butler police Detective Lt. John Johnson, a senior member of the Butler County Drug Task Force, testified at a preliminary hearing Monday morning.

District Judge William Fullerton following Johnson's testimony ordered a Philadelphia man and two Butler women held for trial on charges stemming from the May 4 raid at the home in the 200 block of North Washington Street.

More than 200 bags of suspected heroin and nearly two dozen bags of suspected crack cocaine were seized during the joint operation by county narcotics officers and city police.

Charged with felony and misdemeanor drug possession are Thomas L. Tillman, 29; Jennifer E. Thomas, 27; and Mary P. Boring, 28.

Authorities suspect Tillman and Thomas were dealing drugs out of one of three apartments at the two-story house. Boring, whose boyfriend is the sole tenant, is accused of allowing them there to deal.

Johnson admitted that the alleged drug activity was hard to miss. He estimated the home sits about 100 feet from the police station. The same house also is right across the street from the city building.

The officer said that during the investigation he spoke to Boring about what he saw — “two nights of constant traffic” at the home.

He advised her that the suspected illegal goings-on was “extremely obvious.”

At least two police informants also passed on information of drugs being dealt there.

Johnson's warning, however, apparently had no effect. And after keeping the home under surveillance and following a pair of controlled drug buys in April and May, the Butler County Drug Task Force obtained a search warrant.

Officers got there about 9:15 p.m. and forced in the door, seconds after knocking and announcing their presence. Tillman and Thomas were in the living room. Boring was not home.

The search turned up between 230 and 240 bags of suspected heroin, 22 individually packaged rocks of crack, a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, including a scale and 70 to 80 syringes.

Additionally, officers seized $187 in currency and two cell phones.

On cross-examination, Johnson said he did not know how long Tillman had been at the home, purportedly to sell drugs.

Thomas, he said, admitted that she had been staying there for about a week before the raid.

Johnson said that while investigating an unrelated strong-armed robbery April 9 at the same apartment, police learned that Boring was living there with her boyfriend, who has not been charged in the drug investigation.

Police have an arrest warrant for Joshua Michael Crispin, 28, no known address, in connection with the robbery, during which he allegedly stole a woman's wallet.

Tillman, Thomas and Boring remain in the Butler County Prison on $100,000 bail each.