Arnold police say man tried to keep money, heroin from controlled buy
Arnold police say a man who was making a controlled drug buy for narcotics agents tried to keep some of the cash he had been given, as well as some of the heroin.
After Shawn M. Ferraccio was arrested, Arnold police say he tried to run away when being taken to a holding cell at the New Kensington police department to await arraignment.
Arnold police charged Ferraccio, 45, of Arnold, with concealing or destroying evidence, escape and theft. He was arraigned Wednesday before District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr. and sent to the Westmoreland County Prison on $25,000 bail.
Ferraccio, who has a lengthy criminal record including drug offenses, did not have an attorney listed in court records for this case.
Agents from the state Office of Attorney General Bureau of Narcotics Investigation were working with Arnold police on Tuesday to make a controlled buy of heroin, according to a criminal complaint. Ferraccio was given officially prerecorded funds to make a prearranged transaction for a brick, or 50 packets, of heroin.
The seller was not identified in the complaint.
After making the transaction, police said Ferraccio returned to agents and turned over 41 packets of suspected heroin. Asked about the missing evidence, police said Ferraccio told them, “He must have shorted me.”
Police said they searched Ferraccio and found $20 of the prerecorded funds hidden in an inside pocket, at which point he was arrested for theft of official funds.
Police said Ferraccio then told them he had two packets of evidence in his pocket. A further search found 10 glassine packets of suspected heroin matching the evidence bought in the investigation.
Agents helped Arnold officers take Ferraccio to the New Kensington police department. When Ferraccio was taken out of a patrol car, police said he pulled away and tried to escape on foot. The complaint states that an officer acted quickly and took Ferraccio back into custody.
Ferraccio is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on the charges against him on March 11.
Brian C. Rittmeyer is a TribLive reporter covering news in New Kensington, Arnold and Plum. A Pittsburgh native and graduate of Penn State University's Schreyer Honors College, Brian has been with the Trib since December 2000. He can be reached at brittmeyer@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.