A Hazleton woman was charged Thursday after Nesquehoning police learned of a planned drug deal outside the Dollar General Store on the east end of the borough that afternoon.

According to the affidavit, Nesquehoning Police Chief Sean Smith was informed by a confidential informant that a woman who is called “Pretty Money” would be delivering a brick and a half of heroin to a person in the store’s parking lot.The woman, later identified as Juanita Gonzalez, 39, of 409 E. Chestnut St., Hazleton, would be driving a tan Honda Accord to the meeting.Smith, as well as additional officers from the Nesquehoning Police Department, the Carbon County drug detective and Carbon County Adult Probation, set up surveillance in the parking lot area of the store and waited for Gonzalez to arrive.During the investigation, police witnessed a hand-to-hand exchange between Gonzalez and another target.Officers then took Gonzalez into custody.She has been charged with possession with the intent to manufacture or deliver a controlled substance.A total of 75 bags of heroin, which have a street value of approximately $1,500, as well as one bag of marijuana and cash were seized, the affidavit states.Smith said that through his work with Nesquehoning police and the Carbon County Drug Task Force, it has been identified that state Route 93, which Gonzalez used to get from Hazleton to Nesquehoning, is a drug corridor.“Drug dealers utilize state Route 93 due to less police rather than state Route 309 or Interstate 81 to deliver their drugs without being detected,” Smith said in the affidavit.Over the last few years, police have made multiple arrests along Route 93 in an attempt to stop the drug pipeline into Carbon County.Gonzalez was arraigned before District Judge William Kissner, who set bail at $40,000 straight.