Police collect drugs, weapons from Connellsville apartment
A months-long investigation between Connellsville police and the Fayette County Bureau of Investigation yielded two arrests Monday night after officers recovered drugs and multiple weapons from an apartment.
Andre Lamont Randolph, 46, and Jamaal Lanier Cook, 29, both of Pittsburgh, were arrested after a traffic stop on East Crawford Avenue at about 11:15 p.m. Monday.
The investigation centered around a 109 Gibson Terrace apartment. Multiple confidential informants bought drugs from the residence, according to court documents.
The traffic stop was conducted after police received a tip Randolph would be driven to Pittsburgh in a white Chevrolet sedan with out-of-state plates. State police observed the vehicle driving through the toll booths at the New Stanton exit and followed it to Connellsville. Connellsville Police Cpl. Bryan Kendi stopped the car for a broken tail light, according to paperwork filed in the case.
He was found with nearly $6,500 in cash, marijuana and a key for a safe around his neck, police said. Cook was arrested for possession of narcotics and possession of a firearm with a scratched off or destroyed serial number, police said.
Police obtained a search warrant for 109 Gibson Terrace, where they found six firearms, which included five handguns and a sawed off shotgun and four digital scales. Inside the safe police reported found crack cocaine, heroin, marijuana and more cash. Some of the guns were reported stolen, Kendi said.
The investigation is continuing, and may lead to more arrests, Kendi said.
“We’ll see where the investigation leads, but I would say it’s likely,” he said.
Randolph is charged with three counts each of possession with intent to deliver and possession of a controlled substance, four counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, six counts of prohibited possession of a firearm and one count of offensive weapons.
Police said he is a convicted felon and not permitted to possess firearms.
He was arraigned early Tuesday by on-call Magisterial District Judge Richard Kasunic II, who set bail at $75,000 in the case.
Cook was charged with prohibited possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm with altered serial number, firearms not to be carried without a license and possession of a controlled substance. Kasunic set his bail at $30,000.
Both men remain in Fayette County Prison in lieu of bond.