2 arrested on drug charges at motel
FRANKLIN TWP — A Butler man landed behind bars after state police say they found him Saturday in a motel room with more than 300 prescription pills, crack cocaine and other contraband including dozens of crack pipes and a digital scale.
Christopher L. Ray, 44, was arraigned on felony and misdemeanor drug charges and placed in the Butler County Prison on $25,000 bail.
Police about 2 p.m. found Ray at the Longhorn Corral Saloon and Motel on Route 422 in Franklin Township, where they were called for a report of a suspicious man, according to court documents.
The defendant was in the doorway of a room. In the room, a trooper noticed what appeared to be two crack pipes on the bed and a third pipe on a table by the television.
On a mini refrigerator, police also saw a small baggie holding what they believed to be crack, documents said.
Police subsequently learned that Ray was wanted on a bench warrant.
Nancy A. Hinchberger, 50, of Butler, who was sleeping on the bed, was also found to be wanted by Butler Township police on an arrest warrant for several unrelated misdemeanor drug charges, authorities said.
Police later obtained a search warrant for the room. The search turned up unmarked medicine bottles that contained a total of 342 prescription pills.
Also seized during the search were several pieces of crack, 47 crack pipes, a scale, a large amount of suspected drug packaging materials, five cell phones and $130 in currency.
Ray was arraigned on a felony charge of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, 10 misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance and eight misdemeanor counts of possession of drug paraphernalia.
Police said Hinchberger was later searched and found with suspected crack and a crack pipe.
She admitted that she had gone to the motel room, documents said, “to purchase crack cocaine at $80 per gram.” She said she smoked the drug and went to sleep there.
Hinchberger was arraigned on misdemeanor charges of possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia. Additionally, she was arraigned on three counts of possession of a controlled substance and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia stemming from the Butler Township case.
She is in the county prison $8,000 on bail.
