CLEARFIELD – This week, another round of charges were filed by the state Attorney General’s Office against a 64-year-old drug suspect, Luther L. Ware Jr., of Bronx, NY, according to court documents obtained from the office of Magisterial District Judge Richard Ireland.
For an October drug bust, Ware is facing charges of conspiracy/manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver; manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver; criminal use of communication facility; and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities.
The drug bust occurred at Ware’s apartment on Turnpike Avenue in Clearfield. Prior to the bust, a confidential informant purchased $100 worth of crack cocaine from Ware. When police executed the search warrant, they seized crack cocaine and heroin from Ware’s apartment.
On Tuesday, Ware was charged with conspiracy/manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver; manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver; corrupt organizations; dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities; criminal use of a communication facility; and conspiracy to violate 911b1, 911b2, 911b3.
According to the presentment for this case, the CI testified that they’d been dealing with Ware from 2013 into 2014 until his arrest in October. The CI would contact Ware several times, even on a single day, to obtain cocaine to distribute for Ware.
The CI said usually the amounts would be no less than an eight-ball, or approximately 3.5 grams, and the largest would be a “rack,” or approximately four eight-balls of cocaine.
The racks, the CI said, were worth $2,000 on the street. The CI said Ware would “front the cocaine” and they would pay him after selling it.
The CI2 also testified about their dealings with Ware. They had purchased cocaine directly from Ware four or five times from October of 2013 until his arrest. The CI2 was also aware that Ware had supplied Manuj “Glenn” McCoon with 100 bags of cocaine; those bags, the CI2 said, contained $50, or half a gram, bags. McCoon was supplied with that cocaine for approximately four months until his arrest Nov. 14, 2013.
According to the presentment, McCoon was arrested by the Pennsylvania State Police after a traffic stop on a vehicle traveling on Interstate 80. Inside the vehicle were two large bags containing 81 smaller bags of varying weights of cocaine with the total weight being 16 grams; three cellular phones; small plastic packets with suspected cocaine residue; a copper-coated scrubbing pad; and approximately $2,000.
The CI2 also testified that McCoon and others had been dealing with Ware for a substantial period of time since the beginning of 2013. The CI2 said that McCoon was one of Ware’s “heaviest distributors,” taking trips with him to New York City to resupply. During one trip, McCoon was supplied with eight large bags of crack cocaine that was worth approximately $64,000.
For each large bag that contained smaller bags worth $50 each, McCoon would pay Ware $8,000; the rest of the profit for the sale of crack cocaine would belong to McCoon, the CI2 said. One time at the request of McCoon, the CI2 counted his profits for the sale of crack cocaine, which totaled approximately $14,000.
The CI3 testified that McCoon had been dealing with Ware since meeting through a mutual friend in New York City. They said McCoon was in need of money and discussed with Ware about assisting in his distribution of cocaine. In August of 2013, the CI3 said that McCoon agreed to travel with Ware to Clearfield to take charge of his cocaine distribution operation.
According to the CI3, Ware had been disclosing details to McCoon about his operation for a period of time. He had relied upon local drug addicts to distribute his cocaine; however, he [Ware] said there were always problems with the amount of drugs and money due to the addicts’ unreliability and use of the cocaine.
The CI3 said that initially, McCoon stayed with Ware at hotels. The distributors, they said, would contact Ware or McCoon by phone and tell them how many bags of cocaine was needed or how much money they had. Then, the CI3 said the distributor would meet Ware and eventually McCoon to trade money and to obtain their order of cocaine.
The CI3 said that when a substantial amount of money was collected or more cocaine was needed, Ware would travel back to New York City to drop off money and to obtain additional supplies of cocaine. They said Ware usually made the trip when money totaled $5,000 and obtained a baseball-sized quantity of 50 bags inside a larger bag. The CI3 said these trips occurred about every two weeks and McCoon would stay in Clearfield to direct the distribution of cocaine.
Ware is currently incarcerated at the Clearfield County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail. His preliminary hearing has been scheduled for 9:30 a.m. March 18 at the CCJ.