Drug officers seize 8 pounds of marijuana
SLIPPERY ROCK — More than eight pounds of marijuana and nearly $2,000 cash were seized last week in an investigation by the state Office of the Attorney General's Bureau of Narcotics, authorities said.
Two 24-year-old Slippery Rock men linked to the cache of cannabis and currency Wednesday waived their preliminary hearings on felony possession and other charges.
Defendants Andre Q. Morgan and Moises C. Ferreira remained tight-lipped during court proceedings at District Judge Bill O'Donnell's office in Slippery Rock.
Morgan is in the Butler County Prison on $50,000 bail. Ferreira is free on similar bail.
State agents and narcotics officers arrested the men after investigators say they initiated surveillance about 5:30 p.m. Oct. 9 at their home in the 200 block East Cooper Road.
A police informant's claim that Morgan would be delivering several pounds of marijuana to another home in the borough, authorities said, led investigators to keep watch of the defendants' apartment.
During the surveillance, according to court documents, officers watched Morgan leave his home shortly after 7:10 p.m. and get into a vehicle. He was carrying a black bag.
The vehicle, which appeared to be occupied by three other people, traveled to the other home that the informant identified, authorities said.
The officers stopped Morgan when he got out of the vehicle. A search of the bag turned up 2.75 pounds of marijuana, documents said. He was carrying $1,050.Morgan later admitted that he was delivering the marijuana to a male at the home “in exchange for $6,000,” agent Richard Woznicki said in his affidavit filed with the criminal complaint.The defendant also acknowledged that there was more marijuana back at his house.A search warrant was issued for the home where investigators found Ferreira, who told officers that he, too, lived there.The home's three bedrooms, living room and kitchen, Woznicki said, appeared to be “areas for the use, processing and sale of marijuana and marijuana-based narcotics.”The search turned up an additional 5.69 pounds of marijuana, much of which was packaged in bags for sale in various weightsAlong with the marijuana, officers found THC oil cartridges, which are used with personal vaporizers; THC wax; and the psychedelic drug dimethyltryptamine, commonly known as DMT.Also seized was $765 in currency, four digital scales, two vacuum sealers, empty bags, numerous drug-smoking pipes, bongs and a .40-caliber handgun.Morgan and Ferreira are charged with felony and misdemeanor drug possession and conspiracy.Brian McDermott of Pittsburgh, Morgan's attorney, and public defender Kimberly Hudak, Ferreira's attorney, declined to comment after Wednesday's proceedings.
