Pa. man stopped on Turnpike faces drug charges

1/18/2013

GENOA — A Penn­syl­va­nia man was ar­raigned Thurs­day on mul­ti­ple drug charges af­ter state troop­ers stopped his ve­hi­cle Wed­nes­day on the Ohio Turn­pike and dis­cov­ered small amounts of sev­eral sub­stances dur­ing a search.

Mat­thew Rus­sick, 28, of New Cas­tle, Pa., is charged with two counts of ag­gra­vated drug traf­fick­ing, pos­ses­sion of crack co­caine, and pos­ses­sion of her­oin — all fel­o­nies — plus mis­de­meanor drug pos­ses­sion, pos­ses­sion of drug in­stru­ments, and a turn-sig­nal vi­o­la­tion.

The Ohio High­way Patrol troop­ers re­port they seized an ounce of crack co­caine pack­aged for re­sale, four grams of her­oin, a sy­ringe and a Subox­one packet, with a to­tal value of $5,000.

Mr. Rus­sick re­mained in the Ot­tawa County jail in lieu of $215,000 bond af­ter video ar­raign­ment in Ot­tawa County Munic­i­pal Court. If con­victed, Mr. Rus­sick could be sen­tenced to up to 21½ years in prison and a fine up to $45,000.