A Schuylkill County woman whose Pottsville home was searched by drug investigators in September is now charged with selling fentanyl and methamphetamine to an undercover officer over the summer, one of several people accused in the same investigation.
Ashley Licona, 34, of Pottsville, faces four new cases brought by the Schuylkill County District Attorney’s Office Drug Task Force and State Police. Vanna McCabe, 40, of Pottsville, faces two cases, and Richard Bealer, 44, of New Ringgold, faces one.
Investigators say an undercover officer bought meth, fentanyl, and drug mixtures from the three between May and September. Many of the deals were arranged by a man who set them up by phone and rode along in the officer’s car, police say.
Licona was taken into custody in late September after the Drug Task Force, State Police, and Pottsville police searched her home on E. Norwegian St. and reported finding about 454 grams of meth and 25 grams of fentanyl. Magisterial District Judge Anthony Kilker set her bail at $100,000 in that case. The new charges stem from sales police say happened in the months before the search.
Police say the undercover officer bought suspected fentanyl from Licona outside her home three times after arranging the deals by phone: $200 worth on July 9, $360 worth on July 15, and $480 worth on Aug. 11. Each time, police say, Licona walked out to the passenger side of the officer’s car, took the cash, handed over the drugs, and went back inside.
State Police lab testing found fentanyl in the July 9 and Aug. 11 purchases, which weighed about a third of a gram and 3.6 grams. The July 15 purchase, about 2.8 grams, contained heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, xylazine, ketamine, and tramadol, police say.
On July 22, Licona agreed by text and phone to sell the officer fentanyl and meth for $375, police say. After the officer parked outside her home that afternoon, Licona texted that she was sending someone out with the fentanyl, then called to say she could not sell the meth but could still sell the fentanyl, according to police.
A man came out the front door shortly before 3 p.m., handed the officer two glassine baggies, took the money, and went back inside, police say. The baggies held less than a quarter of a gram of a substance containing the same six drugs found in the July 15 purchase, police say.
On Aug. 27, the man who arranged many of the deals agreed to sell the officer meth and directed the officer to Licona’s home, where the officer was introduced to her, according to police. Police say two people later arrived and met with Licona outside the officer’s presence.
Licona then came to the officer followed by another man and told the officer the man was buying two ounces of meth, police say. Licona weighed out two ounces from a bag, handed them to the man, and gave the officer the rest of the bag. The officer paid her $1,800.
When investigators weighed the meth at the Drug Task Force office, it came up two ounces short, police say. The officer called the man who set up the deal, who said he was still with Licona. Licona said her supplier had likely misunderstood her order and did not send enough meth, and offered the officer the choice of waiting for more or getting some of the money back, according to police. The officer chose the refund, and the man later returned $450, police say.
State Police lab testing found the meth from that sale weighed about 157 grams, police say.
On Sept. 11, the same man rode with the officer to Licona’s home, went inside briefly, and came back to the car, police say. After a short drive, the two returned, and Licona came out and got into the officer’s car, according to police. Police say the officer handed her $1,800, and the man handed the officer a matching amount of meth. The officer then drove both back to her home.
On Sept. 24, Licona came out of her home around 1:30 p.m., took $825 from the officer, and handed over suspected fentanyl and suspected meth. Both tested positive in field tests, according to police.
McCabe’s first case stems from a July 9 deal that began as a meth purchase, police say. The man arranging it directed the officer to the 700 block of W. Arch St. and then to the Family Dollar store. When the officer asked whether he could also get fentanyl, the man called someone he referred to as “Vanna,” who agreed to meet him, according to police.
Police say the man then pointed out a parked car near a W. Arch St. home and garage and said the man inside was his supplier. The officer gave him $800 for meth, and he went into the home, police say. About 15 minutes later, McCabe went in the front door, according to police.
The man came out around 4:20 p.m., returned to the officer at the Family Dollar, and handed over meth and fentanyl, police say. The officer gave him another $100. Lab testing found about 56 grams of meth and less than a tenth of a gram of fentanyl, according to police. McCabe is charged with the fentanyl.
McCabe’s second case stems from July 16, police say. The man arranging the deal had the officer drive to the Sunoco A-Plus on S. Claude A. Lord Blvd., saying he needed to meet “her” there and they would go to a house around the corner, according to police. Around 2:30 p.m., police say, he walked behind the store and met McCabe, who investigators identified from her driver’s license photo. McCabe then went to a nearby home.
Over the next hour, investigators say they watched the man wander the city’s east side between E. Norwegian and E. Arch streets, at one point lying in a road between E. Market and E. Arch streets. He told the officer by phone that McCabe had one ounce of meth and was waiting on a supplier to bring a second, police say.
After moving the car several times at the man’s direction, the officer received word from McCabe, through the man, that she would bring one ounce and return $350 of the officer’s $800, according to police. Around 3:40 p.m., police say, McCabe met the man behind the Sunoco, and he returned to the car with $350, meth, and suspected fentanyl.
Lab testing found about 28 grams of meth and less than a tenth of a gram of a substance containing fentanyl and acetyl fentanyl, police say.
Bealer’s case covers three meth sales in May, police say. On May 12, the man arranging the deals called Bealer while riding with the officer near N. 3rd St. in Pottsville, according to police. Bealer arrived, got into the officer’s car, took $600, and handed over meth, police say. The officer then dropped Bealer off near Morgan Ave.
On May 21, the man called Bealer again from the N. 3rd St. area and asked for extra meth for another customer, police say. According to police, Bealer got into the car, took the officer’s money, and put both orders into one bag, then had the officer drive to his residence, where he split the meth into two amounts.
On May 28, Bealer got into the officer’s car at his residence, took $600, and handed over meth, police say. He also handed the man who set up the deal a cigarette pack holding a baggie of suspected meth and said it was for him, according to police.
Lab testing found each of Bealer’s three sales weighed between 52 and 56 grams of meth, police say.
The officer paid the man who arranged the deals between $50 and $93 for his help on several occasions, according to police.
Across her four new cases, Licona is charged with 16 counts of possession with intent to deliver, 10 counts of conspiracy, four counts of criminal use of a communication facility, and eight counts of possession of a controlled substance.
McCabe faces six counts of possession with intent to deliver, nine counts of conspiracy, three counts of criminal use of a communication facility, and three counts of possession of a controlled substance. Bealer faces the same number of each charge.
Licona and McCabe were arraigned Tuesday and Bealer on Friday before Magisterial District Judge James Reiley. Reiley set Licona’s bail at $25,000 in each of her four cases and McCabe’s at $25,000 in each of her two. Bealer’s bail is $50,000. Reiley also issued orders in all seven cases requiring that the source of any bail money not be illegally gotten.
All three are being held in Schuylkill County Prison. Preliminary hearings for all three are scheduled for Nov. 30 before Reiley.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Large Quantities of Fentanyl, Meth Seized During Search of Schuylkill County Home
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