Two men face drug charges
Charleroi police had to use a battering ram to enter a house on Washington Avenue while serving a search warrant Thursday afternoon.
Inside, officers found drug paraphernalia, cash and two weapons, one of which had been stolen.
Robert Lee Prinkey, 52, of 337 Washington Avenue, was charged with receiving stolen property and criminal conspiracy for receiving stolen property, according to an affidavit filed in the office of District Judge James Ellis. Bond was set at $50,000, and he was placed in Washington County jail.
Semaj Deonte Lowe, 22, who told police he is homeless, was arraigned before Ellis and was placed in jail on $50,000 bond.
He was charged with receiving stolen property, manufacturing with the intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a small amount of marijuana, according to Charleroi police.
When police entered the house at 4:05 p.m., officers found the two men and located three plastic bags of marijuana in Lowe’s right front pocket.
Drug paraphernalia was visible on a coffee table in the living room. Lowe was found with $961 in cash.
Two safes with traces of narcotics on both were found in a rear bedroom, police said. Inside the safes, police found a loaded firearm later determined to be stolen from North Belle Vernon; $1,000 in cash; two digital scales; a lock-picking kit; empty, unused stamp bags; an empty soft drink can with a secret storage container, and material used to wrap drugs. A Ruger LC9 weapon was found under a bedroom chair. Police said there was a round in the chamber.
Empty stamp bags were found in the bedroom along with numerous small rubber bands often used in packaging drugs for sale, police said.