CRANBERRY TWP — A drug felon is back behind bars after his arrest Wednesday for allegedly selling prescription painkillers in the township.

Mark E. Noah, 47, of Callery is being held in the Butler County Prison on $75,000 bail on drug trafficking charges. His arrest culminated a Butler County Drug Task Force investigation that began a year ago.

A police informant in December 2013 advised Cranberry Township police officer Justin Hewitt, who also works for the task force, that Noah was selling oxycodone hydrochloride in the Cranberry Township area, court documents said.

OxyContin, the brand name for oxycodone hydrochloride, is a powerful narcotic painkiller available by prescription.

Police said the informant was eventually used to make a controlled drug buy with Noah. The two talked by cell phone and set a deal: six oxycodone pills for $150.

The drug deal played out Dec. 20, 2013, on Dutilh Road in Cranberry with county narcotics forces nearby working a surveillance detail.

A second controlled buy between Noah and the informant occurred Feb. 7, this time at the defendant’s home in the 200 block of Main Street Extension, where he sold 10 oxymorphone hydrochloride pills for $100, documents said.

Opana, the brand name for oxymorphone hydrochloride, is an opioid-based pain medication.

Noah was arraigned Wednesday on felony charges of delivery and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, and criminal use of a communication facility.

Additionally, he is charged with misdemeanor drug possession.

Court records show that Noah has prior drug convictions in Allegheny County, including for trafficking narcotics in Hampton Township in 2009.

He was sentenced to one year in the county’s intermediate punishment program followed by three years of probation.

The intermediate punishment program is designed for low-risk drug offenders and includes electronic monitoring and outpatient treatment.