Daniel Martin

A Butler man was arrested Monday on charges he sold methamphetamine to a police informant in the city.

The alleged controlled drug buy in January preceded a raid by the Butler County Task Force at a home on Fourth Avenue.

Daniel B. Martin, 40, is charged with felony drug trafficking and possession charges. He is in the Butler County Prison on $15,000 bail.

The task force said the defendant left the Fourth Avenue home that was under surveillance Jan. 29 and exchanged two baggie corners containing meth with the informant for $140.

Officers subsequently obtained a search warrant for the home — a downstairs apartment in a two-story duplex.

The operation culminated a three-week investigation into suspected sales of crack cocaine and methamphetamine at the apartment, according to county Detective Tim Fennell, who leads the task force.

The home's residents — Maurice W. Johnson, 35, and Jennifer N. Perdue, 42, — were arrested in the raid. Martin was not there.

In all, the search turned up eight stamp bags of suspected heroin, according to court documents, a digital scale and other drug contraband.

Officers also found Perdue with $140 in “pre-recorded funds” that Martin had collected from the informant, authorities said.

The task force eventually obtained an arrest warrant for Martin. He was arraigned Monday on felony charges of delivery and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance.

He is also charged with misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 11.

While searching the home, Fennell said, officers also noticed evidence of an alleged currency counterfeiting operation.

The task force, in turn, obtained a second warrant and seized several phony $50 bills, a desk jet printer and scanners, investigators said.

Johnson and Perdue were both previously arraigned on a felony charge of forgery and a misdemeanor count of possession of a controlled substance.

Additionally, Perdue was arraigned on a felony charge of conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance.

She was ordered held for court on the charges at her preliminary hearing Monday. She remains in the county prison on $25,000 bail and a probation detainer.

Johnson waived his preliminary hearing Feb. 11 on the charges. He is free on his own recognizance.