Mt. Oliver Police Department Cracks Down On Drug Crimes After Months-Long Investigation
MT. OLIVER, Pa. (KDKA) -- Police officers in one local community have been working to crack down on drug crimes.
An investigation into illegal drug sales in Mt. Oliver began in September 2020 and wrapped up last month. It ended with 45 arrest warrants being issued for the accused drug dealers who unknowingly sold drugs to undercover cops.
"It's huge," Mt. Oliver Borough Police Chief Matthew Juzwick. "We're three-tenths of a square mile, a total of 3,500 residents. And for 45 arrest warrants to be issued from one investigation, that's pretty big."
Over the past year, officers from the department were on a shopping spree to stop crime.
"The controlled buys, it was usually small amounts of heroin or crack cocaine," Chief Juzwick said.
The officers used money from their organized crime partner, the Middle Atlantic-Great Lakes Organized Crime Law Enforcement Network, to purchase drugs being sold on the street.
Law enforcement recovered $90,000 worth of fentanyl and heroin, $23,000 in cocaine and crack and about 100 prescription pills. Police also seized nine guns and a piece of body armor. Some of the items were recovered during a weekend warrant sweep.
"We had over one individual that had over 130 bricks of heroin, which is roughly $30,000 in street value, along with two and a half grams of cocaine and a firearm," Juzwick said.
With the investigation closed, the drugs and guns were sent to the county crime lab for analysis and will probably be destroyed based on the outcome of the court proceedings. The money will end up at the DA's office for seizure.
"Twenty-eight of them were arrested over the weekend since Saturday morning. From my understanding, the vast majority were released very shortly after being incarcerated," he said.
Each will be charged for the sale of drugs. For those who are unaware police are looking for them, the department posted a reminder on Facebook with their names listed.
"We're out there and we're doing what we can to make this a safer environment for everybody," the chief said.