Nicholas W. Decampli

A windfall of more than $23,000 in forfeited drug money will help bolster drug investigations in the county, after the money is split between the Butler County District Attorney's Office and the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office.

The forfeiture comes after an investigation into the drug distribution activities of Nicholas W. Decampli, 35, of Zelienople, who pleaded guilty to felony possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance — marijuana, and misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance — heroin on Wednesday. As part of that plea, he also agreed to forfeit all cash and items seized, including the $23,536.

Richard Goldinger, Butler County district attorney, said that money will be split between the investigating agencies, with the county's portion being placed into a checking account containing funds from seized cash and assets in drug cases once Decampli is sentenced June 20.

Decampli is expected to be sentenced to 7½ to 23 months incarceration in Butler County Prison, followed by probation and fines, and continues to be held on $100,000 bail pending sentencing.

Goldinger said the account, which was previously reported to have a balance of about $83,000 in February, will be used to continue the fight against drug activity in the county. He said the money will help fund officer training, the purchase of equipment, drug interdiction training, advertising the opioid hot line, bulletproof shields, structured drug buys and other items and programs.

He said the seizure is one of the biggest in the county in recent years.

“That is a good sum of money,” Goldinger said. “That's as much money as I recall us seizing in my 11 years here.”

Decampli's plea comes after a search of his home in the 400 block of W. New Castle St., Zelienople, that turned up the cash, 12 pounds of marijuana and dozens of heroin stamp bags, following an investigation by the state Office of the Attorney General Bureau of Narcotics Investigations, which was assisted by the Butler County Drug Task Force.

He was charged alongside Domenick W. Decampli, 68, also of Zelienople, after the Nov. 14 raid.

Police said inside the home they found $22,100 in cash under Nicholas Decampli's bed, $1,536 in cash on a shelf, a glass jar of marijuana next to the money, a notebook with a drug distribution business plan and outstanding debts next to the cash beneath the bed and a shoebox containing about 50 stamp bags of heroin, empty heroin bags and paraphernalia on the bedroom floor, according to a police affidavit.

Five cell phones and about 12 pounds of marijuana were also found in a storage tote and cooler in the garage, the document states.

Police said in Domenick Decampli's bedroom they found eight individually wrapped plastic bags of marijuana and an electronic scale.