Disinfectant wipes, speeding lead to heroin bust in Penn Borough

Suspected drug dealers apparently are concerned with practicing good hygiene during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Penn Borough Police report.

Police Sgt. Eric Colamarino said Von Shane Carlson, 53, of Scottdale, a passenger in a pickup truck pulled over Tuesday for driving more than twice the posted 25 mph speed limit along Arona Road, was arrested after police discovered six bricks of heroin in his possession.

Colamarino said in court documents filed before Hempfield District Judge Mark Mansour that Carlson and the driver, Kevin Weimer, 49, also of Scottdale, had just stopped at a Walmart in North Huntingdon to buy disinfectant wipes when Weimer was clocked driving 51 mph through Arona.

“It’s (the heroin) all mine. Kevin doesn’t have anything to do with it,” Colamarino quoted Carlson as telling him when the officer found him holding 100 stamp bags of the drug.

Carlson then directed Colamarino to four more heroin bricks stuffed beneath the passenger seat, police said. Colamarino said police also seized $403 and a cellphone from Carlson.

“We went to Walmart to get Clorox wipes. I thought I had shoved all the bundles of heroin underneath the seat before you pulled us over,” Colamarino said Carlson told him.

According to Colamarino, Carlson is wanted on an arrest warrant in Ohio after allegedly skipping out on a $5,000 bond and failing to appear on a criminal case there.

Weimer was charged only with speeding and driving on a suspended license, police said.

Colamarino also said in court documents that Carlson, prior to Tuesday’s arrest, had “an extensive criminal history,” being arrested more than 30 times in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, New York and Ohio.

Carlson was arraigned Wednesday and ordered held in the county prison after failing to post $100,000 bond pending a preliminary hearing June 12.