A Penn Hills man was arrested Tuesday after state police said they found 2 pounds of cocaine in the vehicle he was driving on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Westmoreland County, according to court papers.
Troopers initiated a traffic stop at 1:30 p.m. near the border of Donegal and Cook townships after noticing a Cadillac with excessively tinted windows following another motorist too closely, according to court papers.
The driver, Ratique S. Wilson, 35, refused to let police search the car.
A state police dog alerted troopers to the possible presence of drugs.
A search warrant revealed about 2 pounds of cocaine in the trunk, according to court papers.
Wilson is charged with drug offenses and summary vehicle code violations. He was being held at the Westmoreland County Prison on $150,000 bail. He did not have an attorney listed in online court records. A Feb. 13 preliminary hearing has been set.
It was the second significant drug bust in less than a week by state police on the turnpike in Westmoreland County.
Troopers pulled over a westbound Honda SUV at 2 a.m. Jan. 29 after they reported seeing multiple vehicle code violations near mile marker 77.8 in Hempfield. During a search of the SUV, police said, they found about 40,000 stamp bags of suspected fentanyl, which has a street value of about $80,000, according to court papers.
Gerard Polanco Peralta, 34, of New Jersey is in the county jail without bail awaiting a preliminary hearing Wednesday.