A Carbon County man was sentenced to time-served after pleading guilty to drug charges.

William Todd Knappenberger Jr., 22, of Lehighton, pleaded to one count of possession of a controlled substance, heroin. In exchange for the plea two counts each of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and criminal conspiracy - PWID, all felonies, were dropped in a plea deal with the district attorney’s office.

District Attorney Michael S. Greek said he agreed to the plea deal because the amount of drugs found in a vehicle, during a vehicle stop, was considered for personal use and also because Knappenberger had taken steps to address a drug addiction problem.

Knappenberger and two co-defendants, William Campbell, 57, and Tammi Richardson, 44, were arrested on Oct. 15, 2018, following a traffic stop by police. Knappenberger was a passenger in the vehicle.

According to the affidavit of probable caused filed by officer Gabe Szozda of the Lehighton police:

On Oct. 15, police followed Campbell, Richardson and Knappenberger from Carbon County to Schnecksville. Officers watched Knappenberger as he met a man sitting in a vehicle. After they met, Knappenberger promptly left the area.

The three headed to a local restaurant where they stopped for a short period of time before heading back toward Lehighton, where they were arrested and taken into custody without incident.

In a search following the arrests, officers found Knappenberger in possession of 232 bags of what they believed to be heroin, as well as 18 used bags that he had in his shorts. Police also searched the vehicle, where they found 27 bags of heroin, a syringe, Richardson’s identification, three ripped bags with residue, one bottle cap with residue, a single black rubber band, a small ripped sandwich bag, an ibuprofen bottle filled with water and a butane fuel can.

Police say Knappenberger admitted to purchasing the heroin from a man in Schnecksville and told officers that Richardson had paid him $60 for three “bundles,” or 30 bags, of heroin. Knappenberger also said that Campbell has driven him to purchase heroin on numerous occasions, and that he pays Campbell $20 each trip.

Serfass sentenced Knappenberger to serve one month to 319 days in prison with credit for 319 days already served, and paroled him.

Campbell was scheduled for a pretrial conference in the DA’s office on Aug. 13. Court records indicate there are no pending charges related to the incident against Richardson.