A Schuylkill County man is in jail on drug delivery charges after police say they found suspected methamphetamine and fentanyl pills in his home and cash from an earlier police drug buy in his pocket.
Collin Freitas, 59, of Pottsville, is charged with possession with intent to deliver, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a small amount of marijuana. He’s being held on $50,000 bail at Schuylkill County Prison.
Police say they made a series of controlled drug buys from Freitas’ home at 307 N. Fourth St. during September, then searched the house the morning of Sept. 30.
Freitas had $761 in his front pants pocket, including a prerecorded bill Pottsville police had used to buy methamphetamine during a controlled buy earlier last month.
After first denying that he sold meth from the house, Freitas told police he buys it from several people every two to three days, usually a half ounce to an ounce at a time. He told police most of what he buys is for himself and people who live at the house, but that he does sell to other friends and known users.
Inside the house, police say they found nearly 14 grams of a crystal-like substance wrapped in a napkin inside a grocery bag, hidden under a sheet in the second-floor hallway right outside Freitas’ bedroom door. Next to it was a cigarette pack holding a cellophane pack and a small resealable baggie, both containing a crystal-like substance, according to police.
In a spare storage room connected to Freitas’ bedroom, police say they found a bulk pack of small resealable baggies and a small white box containing 42 pills of various colors, suspected to be fentanyl. A knotted plastic bag of suspected marijuana was under the mattress in the bedroom where police found Freitas.
Police say they also seized three black digital scales with white residue; a glass smoking pipe with burnt residue and a zipper pouch of drug paraphernalia from the first-floor living room; an eyeglass case holding glass smoking devices with burnt residue; and a small lock box from the back porch. Two pairs of brass knuckles were found in a backpack in a separate second-floor bedroom where no one was found during the search, according to police.
A portion of the substance from the cellophane pack weighed about 4 grams and tested positive for methamphetamine, police say. The substance in the small baggie weighed less than a gram. One of the pills from the white box tested positive for fentanyl.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday before Magisterial District Judge James Reiley. At his arraignment, Reiley ordered that any money Freitas used to post bail must be proven that it didn’t come from drug sales.
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