Police: Driver had 285 bags of heroin
A North Franklin Township man was arrested Friday by state police after he allegedly was found with almost 300 stamp bags of suspected heroin along with prescription medication during a traffic stop at Jefferson and East Wylie avenues in Washington.
Joseph William Rasel, 43, of 304 Sugar Maple Circle, was stopped by state police. The trooper was traveling through the intersection and had a green light when he spotted Rasel enter the intersection through a red light. When Rasel spotted the state police cruiser, he reportedly tried to back his vehicle out of the intersection.
The trooper told Rasel to pull off to the side. Police indicated Rasel’s eyes were bloodshot and glassy. He also was unsteady when asked to perform field sobriety tests, they said. The trooper told Rasel to get his belongings out of the vehicle and call for a ride home. Rasel got out of his vehicle, complaining he could not find his cellphone. Rasel opened a lock box that was spotted earlier by the trooper that he explained contained his medication. Rasel reportedly turned the box so the trooper could not see the contents. But the trooper could still see stamp bags of suspected heroin. The trooper grabbed Rasel’s wrist and ordered him to put the box down. Rasel was ordered out of the vehicle and placed in handcuffs.
Police seized the box, which they said contained 285 stamp bags packaged in several paper bricks and wrapped in rubber bands for individual sales. They said he also had several pills, including Klonopin and morphine, paraphernalia and $200.
Rasel was arraigned before District Judge David Mark on charges of possession and possession with intent to deliver heroin and narcotics, possession of paraphernalia, driving under the influence of a controlled substance, failure to stop at a red light and careless driving. He was released from Washington County jail Monday afternoon after posting $25,000 bond. A preliminary hearing is set for July 24 before District Judge Robert Redlinger.
Rasel also faces a July 29 preliminary hearing before Redlinger. He was charged with possession of heroin and Suboxone after he allegedly was found in the parking lot of a Jefferson Avenue business with the suspected drugs by a Washington County Task Force detective in early May.