32 Arrested, Including 4 Alleged Drug Pushers, In Norristown Drug Operation

NORRISTOWN, PA – Two phone calls months apart from each other allowed investigators to link together two drug rings that delivered crystal meth and heroin to the streets of Norristown and other parts in southeastern Pennsylvania.

District Attorney Risa Ferman announced Wednesday the arrest of 32 people, including four major alleged drug pushers, in Norristown in a joint operation appropriately dubbed “Operation Snow and Ice Removal.”

“This is a series of drug trafficking arrests that have been made in two overlapping drug trafficking rings that relate to the sale of crystal meth, heroin and cocaine, primarily in Norristown but with tentacles in southeast Pennsylvania,” Ferman said at a press conference.

Read more:

http://www.timesherald.com/general-news/20150225/32-arrested-including-4-alleged-drug-pushers-in-norristown-drug-operation

Drug Ring Out Of Pottstown’s Bright Hope Knocked Out

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

NORRISTOWN — Juvenile burglars who tipped off police on the alleged drug runners they robbed led to the complete shutdown of a drug ring which once operated out of Bright Hope Village in Pottstown and had been investigated for more than a year.

Five people were arrested for allegedly trafficking heroin, cocaine and crystal methamphetamine in both Montgomery and Philadelphia counties since at least 2013, according to a release from Montgomery County First Assistant District Attorney Kevin Steele.

Edward Tillman was arrested and accused of being the ring-leader. Anisha Harris, 31, Johnathan Jackson, 24, Melvin Hampton, 44, and Teresa Hiller, age not given, were all arrested and accused of being his associates in the organization.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/general-news/20140521/drug-ring-out-of-pottstowns-bright-hope-knocked-out

Former Norristown Cop Sentenced To 17 Years In Drug Case

Location of Norristown in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

MONTGOMERY COUNTY COURTHOUSE — A Montgomery County judge sentenced a retired Norristown police officer to 17 to 50 years behind bars Friday for selling methamphetamine and prescription pills and using his old police badge and license plate as clout to do it.

In July, a jury found Jack Pennington, 68, of Upper Merion, guilty of 16 out of 21 drug-related felonies stemming from a wiretap investigation spearheaded by Montgomery County Detectives and their Narcotics Enforcement Team (NET).

In June 2012, undercover operatives arrested Pennington at the Plymouth Meeting Mall as he was about to meet his supplier.

“His criminal conduct has had a significant negative impact on the community, and this type of criminal activity merits a significant sentence,” said Common Pleas Judge William R. Carpenter. “A lesser sentence would depreciate the seriousness of this kind of crime.”

Read more: http://www.timesherald.com/general-news/20131011/former-norristown-cop-sentenced-to-17-years-in-drug-case

Thousands Of Doses Of Potential Synthetic Drugs Seized From Mechanicsburg Shop

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Cumberland County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

More than a dozen people walked past the parked police cars Friday morning up to the door of the Magical Incense Shop that was guarded by police officers with a simple question:

“When’s the shop open?”

One of the men even tried to reach past Mechanicsburg Police Chief David Spotts to get to the door, Spotts said.

The downtown Mechanicsburg shop didn’t open Friday.  And Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed wants to keep the shop — which he alleges has been selling synthetic designer drugs for years — closed permanently.  Freed closed the store under a temporary injunction signed by Cumberland County Judge Albert Masland.  A hearing on the injunction will be held Tuesday, Freed said.

Read more: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/08/mechanicsburg_head_shop_shut_d_1.html#incart_m-rpt-2