BUTLER TWP — What began as a routine visit by county probation officers at a Lyndora apartment last week led to the discovery of a safe stuffed with suspected heroin, crack cocaine, syringes and cash, authorities said.

The Butler County Drug Task Force on Thursday charged two women, both felons, who live at the apartment in the 600 block of Bessemer Avenue.

Accused of drug dealing are 31-year-old Michelle L. Ball and 27-year-old Jessica L. Holley.

County drug officers were notified May 22 after probation officers found drug paraphernalia at the defendants’ apartment while making a home compliance check, according to court documents.

Among the contraband were empty stamp bags of heroin and packaging materials for crack, investigators said.

Ball and Holley were placed in the Butler County Prison for their respective probation violations.

Butler County Court records showed both women have felony drug-related convictions.

Later that day, drug officers made their own inspection at the apartment, finding hypodermic needles in the trash and more drug packaging materials, documents said.

A black Sentry safe equipped with a digital keypad lock also was found under a pile of clothing in a closet in Holley’s bedroom.

County Detective Tim Fennell, who heads the task force, went to the prison and asked Holley for the combination to unlock the safe. But she denied she had a safe in the apartment, documents said.

Fennell, in turn, applied for a search warrant for the metal safe. He noted in the warrant application that Holley has prior drug dealing arrests and he believed the safe may contain narcotics.

Armed with the warrant, officers returned to the apartment and forced open the safe. Inside they found 151 rocks of suspected crack, individually packaged, documents said. The amount of suspected crack seized has a street value of more than $7,500.

The safe also contained 210 full bags and 300 empty bags of suspected heroin, 10 used syringes, two crack pipes, a digital scale, $1,551 in currency and a “loaded syringe” containing blood and other fluids.

“(Holley) was interrupted shooting up (heroin) when the probation officers showed up,” Fennell said of the suspicious syringe.

Holley and Ball are both charged with multiple counts of felony and misdemeanor drug possession.