Several people were arrested on drug charges as the result of a search warrant that was executed on Friday at 10 Beechwood Drive in Antis Township.
Heroin drug buys were made earlier last week ahead of the execution of the search warrant on Friday evening. Two brothers, 25-year-old Benjamin Scot Grove and 20-year-old Wesley Richard Grove live at the Antis address where Blair County’s latest drug bust happened.
A press release from Attorney General Tom Corbett’s office said authorities seized 50 packets of heroin from the older of the two Grove brothers. The packets had a street value of $2,000. A bundle of heroin with a street value of $400 was seized from the younger Grove brother. The warrant also netted 10 other packets of heroin valued at $400 from suspect Edmund Shuck Lee of rural Hollidaysburg. Authorities also seized $2,400 in cash and several other items as part of the bust.
Agent James Walstrom of the Attorney General’s Drug Task Force said two of the suspects in the case ran from the residence when the raid occurred on Friday. Walstrom described 21-year-old Joseph J. Williams, Jr. of Brooklyn, NY as the supplier in the operation. He said Williams fled the house and was captured in a wooded area within about 30 minutes.
Christopher Scott Noel, 26, of Bellwood was at the residence at the time of the bust and fled. He turned himself into Tyrone Police on Saturday. Noel was arrested on charges dating back to a separate incident in February according to the police criminal complaint filed against him.
Agent Walstrom said, “We don’t have a lot of this in the Antis area. But, it’s indicative of what’s going on. It’s mushrooming out to the more rural areas. I think we’ll see more of it in the coming months before it gets better.
“We believe Williams was the supplier,” said Walstrom. “Where the supplier goes so go the drugs.”
Walstrom said Williams had been operating out of Antis Township. He said authorities had been working on the case for about a month before the arrests.
The attorney general’s press release said agents of the AG’s office, the AG K-9 unit, the Pennsylvania State Police and the Tyrone and Bellwood Police departments conducted the bust.
Here is the list of suspects in the case:
• Benjamin Scot Grove, 25, 10 Beechwood Dr., Altoona- one count each: manufacture, delivery, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, criminal conspiracy to commit the delivery of heroin, possession of a controlled substance and possession with the intent to use drug paraphernalia. Grove was arraigned before District Judge Paula Aigner and was incarcerated in Blair County Prison on $25,000, 10 percent bail;
• Wesley Richard Grove, 20, 10 Beechwood Dr., Altoona- one count each: manufacture, delivery, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, criminal conspiracy to commit the delivery of heroin, possession of a controlled substance and possession with the intent to use drug paraphernalia. Grove was arraigned before Judge Aigner and was incarcerated in Blair County Prison on $25,000, 10 percent bail;
• Joseph J. Williams, Jr., 21, 143 Palmetto St., 3C, Brooklyn, NY- one count each: manufacture, delivery, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, criminal conspiracy to commit the delivery of heroin, possession of a controlled substance and possession with the intent to use drug paraphernalia. Grove was arraigned before Judge Aigner and was incarcerated in Blair County Prison on $100,000 straight bail;
• Edmund Shuck Lee, 44, RD 2, Box 71, Hollidaysburg- one count each: manufacture, delivery, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, criminal conspiracy to commit the delivery of heroin, possession of a controlled substance and possession with the intent to use drug paraphernalia. Grove was arraigned before District Judge Paula Aigner and was incarcerated in Blair County Prison on $25,000, 10 percent bail;
• Christopher Noel, 26, 322 Main St., Apt. 4, Bellwood- one count each: possession with intent to deliver, manufacture or create heroin and delivery of a controlled or counterfeit substance (heroin). Noel was arraigned via video and released on $25,000 unsecured bail and
• Lindsey Jo Wood, 20, 322 Main St., Apt. 4, Bellwood- one count each: possession with intent to deliver, manufacture or create heroin and delivery of a controlled or counterfeit substance (heroin). Wood was arraigned before District Judge Fred Miller and was incarcerated in Blair County Prison on $10,00 straight bail. According to the police criminal complaint, the charges against Wood stem from a March 22 incident.
All the cases were transferred to Judge Miller’s office. Preliminary hearings for all six suspects were scheduled this morning before Judge Miller.
