Log In


Reset Password

Police report on DUI, drug incidents

Police have reported on the following cases:

• State police at Lehighton reported charges are pending against a person after they responded to an incident at 12:44 p.m. Sept. 14 along Mill Run Drive in Franklin Township.

Police said drugs and drug paraphernalia were found at the scene. The suspect’s name was not released.

• A 63-year-old Walnutport man is facing charges of driving under the influence of alcohol following a traffic stop made by state police at Lehighton at 1:49 a.m. Oct. 4 on Route 248 in Bowmanstown.

Police said they stopped the 2014 Jeep Compass for Motor Vehicle Code violations. The driver was suspected to be under the influence of alcohol.

Police said he refused all chemical testing, resulting in charges to be filed in district court. His name was not released.

• State police at Lehighton reported a traffic stop they made at 9 p.m. Aug. 27 at the intersection of Interchange and Oakwood roads in Polk Township resulted in the driver being arrested for driving under the influence of drugs (marijuana).

Police said the vehicle was stopped after the driver committed a Motor Vehicle Code violation. The driver was transported to the Monroe County Correctional Facility, Snydersville, for a blood test.

The charges will be filed in the office of Magisterial District Judge Colleen Mancuso, pending the results of laboratory testing, police said.

• Tarah Strausberger, 36, of White Street, Lehighton, is facing charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia and public drunkenness after Summit Hill police were summoned at 5:18 p.m. Sept. 23 to the area of the Bill Black Memorial Playground at Market Street and Park Avenue.

Police said they were called to investigate the welfare of a woman sitting on the sidewalk. Police determined Strausberger was under the influence of methamphetamine. Police located an empty syringe, an empty glassine baggie containing suspected heroin and a small amount of a clear substance suspected to be methamphetamine in the woman’s purse.

• Scott David Miller, 30, of White Street, Summit Hill, was arrested by borough police for possession of a small amount of marijuana at 5:54 p.m. Sept. 28 at his home.

Police said they went there after being informed of a warrant out for Miller and upon arrival discovered a cigarette pack in his pants pocket containing a clear baggie of a green leaf substance believed to be marijuana.

• Drew Holben, 30, of Orefield, is facing charges of driving under the influence of alcohol as a result of a traffic stop made by state police at the Fogelsville barracks at 3:10 a.m. Sept. 21 along Route 100 in Lowhill Township.

Police said he was stopped while driving a 2015 Ford F-150 after having committed several traffic violations. Police said they saw alcohol in the truck.

• Joseph N. Perilla, 57, of Hazleton, is facing charges of driving under the influence of alcohol as a result of a one-vehicle crash at 11:45 a.m. Sept. 29 in Ringtown.

State police at Frackville said he was driving a 2012 Subaru Legacy on North Bridge Street in the borough and was attempting to negotiate a right-hand curve in the roadway when the car went off the road and hit a guide rail on the eastbound shoulder of the roadway and continued to travel approximately one-quarter mile onto West Main Street before coming to rest.

Police said the car sustained disabling damages to its front passenger-side axle, bumper and fender area and was towed from the scene.

Perilla was uninjured.

• Jerry Olivencia, 28, of Whitehall, has been charged by Summit Hill police with possession of a small amount of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia after a traffic stop at 3:26 p.m. Sept. 1 along Route 902 in the borough.

Police said they made the stop because Olivenia was driving a 2010 Ford Fusion that did not have a proper inspection sticker on it. Police said they smelled an odor of burned marijuana. Olivencia advised them he had “weed” inside the vehicle. Police said they located the suspected marijuana inside a clear plastic tube on the front passenger side floor board of the vehicle.