Presented with new evidence Monday, District Judge William Fullerton allowed previously dismissed charges against two suspected members of the “Youngstown crew” drug ring.

Bryant L. Battle, 49, of Youngstown and Becky J. Zebley, 34, of Ellwood City both appeared before Fullerton for preliminary hearings Monday afternoon.

Assistant District Attorney Robert Zanella and state police presented two new pieces of evidence: text messages recovered from a cell phone found at a searched home on East Locust Street as well as a police account of an alleged drug deal. In the latter, police believe Zebley sold crack cocaine.

Both defendants previously went through preliminary hearings. They were arrested along with seven others after two drug raids made within 30 minutes of each other.

The cell phone found in the search belongs to Elijah G. Alexander, 30, of Youngstown, according to police. Alexander is identified in court documents with the alias “Skinny.”

In the phone, police found text messages referring to Zebley as a “runner.”

Several text messages were also sent to the device from a phone police believe belonged to Battle. The phone number was stored in the phone's contact list as Bryan Tow Truck. Battle drives a tow truck.

Those text messages allegedly appeared to be orchestrating drug deals using slang such as “q,” meaning quarter-ounce, or a “ball,” referring to a quantity of cocaine.

Zanella argued this new evidence is enough for charges to make it through the preliminary hearing process and be brought to court.

Both defendants faced the same set of charges: two felony charges of possession with intent to deliver, two felony charges of dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, two misdemeanor charges of possession of a controlled substance and two misdemeanor charges of possession of drug paraphernalia.

Attorneys Kimberly Hudak and Dennis McCurdy represented the pair of defendants Monday. The attorneys urged Fullerton not to reconsider the cases.

“Nothing has changed,” Hudak said.

After hearing from both, Fullerton left the courtroom for a brief period to review the case. Upon returning, he announced that he would agree to allow all of Battle's charges to continue, as the text messages indicated he had intent and ability to enact control over the drugs found in the raid.

As for Zebley, Fullerton threw out the felony charges related to heroin, but kept those for crack cocaine. The witnessed drug deal justified the cocaine charge, he explained, but Zebley's role in the text messages as a “runner” seemed insufficient to Fullerton to attach heroin to her as well.

He opted to keep their bonds as previously arranged. Battle is being held on a $100,000 cash bail, while Zebley is held on $50,000 bail.