Fugitive from Butler captured
McKEESPORT, Allegheny County — Thousands of stamp bags of suspected heroin and a stolen gun.
That's what police said they found at the McKeesport home of a felon and former fugitive wanted in Butler County.
Eric L. Barlow Jr., 29, of Butler is being held in the Butler County Prison without bail following his capture Wednesday by U.S. Marshals officers with the help of McKeesport police.
Authorities had been looking for Barlow since he failed to report to the Butler County Prison on Aug. 22 to begin his sentence in a felony drug case.
The defendant in that case had previously pleaded guilty to a charge of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. State police said he sold cocaine and fentanyl to a confidential informant in Butler on May 25, 2017.
He was free on $50,000 bond Aug. 15 when he was sentenced to two to six years in state prison. But a judge deferred Barlow's commitment, allowing him a week to get his affairs in order.
When he failed to show up at the prison, county detectives charged him in an arrest warrant with a felony count of escape.
The U.S. Marshals Western Pennsylvania Fugitive Task Force eventually tracked him down at a home in McKeesport, where authorities believed he had been living with his sister.
He was alone when he was arrested without incident.
“(Barlow) didn't say one word,” McKeesport Police Chief Adam Alfer said Friday.
When officers noticed a glass jar of suspected marijuana in the house, McKeesport police quickly obtained a search warrant. The search, Alfer said, turned up much more.
Officers found more than 70 “bricks” of suspected heroin.
In all, Alfer said, police seized 3,650 stamp bags of suspected heroin. The evidence will be sent to the state police crime lab for testing.
Among other evidence seized in the search, police said, was a gun, which turned out had been reported stolen in July 2018 from Duquesne, Allegheny County.
On Thursday, police charged Barlow with felony counts of drug possession, conspiracy and felons not to possess firearms. His sister, Tyeneka Barlow, 31, is also facing felony charges of drug possession and conspiracy.
The siblings' arraignments are pending.
Following his capture, Barlow was returned to Butler County, where he was arraigned on the escape charge. District Judge William Fullerton remanded him to the county prison without bail.
His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 21.
