The amount of money and drugs being exchanged by an undercover North Huntingdon officer and a Trafford man increased over seven controlled buys between August and Tuesday, according to court papers.
At their first meeting Aug. 19, Vondae Duane Freeman, 38, is accused of giving the undercover officer a few bricks of heroin/fentanyl and 9 grams of the drugs in exchange for $1,600. On Tuesday, Freeman handed over a handgun and 31 grams of fentanyl for $4,780, police said.
The undercover officer on Tuesday brought along agents from the state attorney general’s office and the Westmoreland County Drug Task Force. Freeman was arrested on numerous drug and weapons violations along with counts of dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity and criminal use of a communication facility.
In total, the undercover officer reported giving the suspect $17,580 in exchange for the gun, about 50 bricks of heroin/fentanyl plus about 90 grams of the unpackaged drugs, according to court papers. The suspect claimed 19 grams would be about 18 bricks worth when packaged, the complaint said.
Investigators reported finding inside Freeman’s Cavitt Avenue home two guns and more fentanyl. He was being held on $250,000 bail at the Westmoreland County Prison. A preliminary hearing is set for Oct. 29. Freeman did not have an attorney listed in online court records.
Freeman, who has ties to Pittsburgh and Verona, was sentenced to two years of probation in Allegheny County in connection with drug violations there from 2017, according to online court records.
The township officer works with the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Federal Task Force and as a detective with the state attorney general’s drug task force.