CLEARFIELD – A New York man accused of bringing drugs into Clearfield County will be staying in jail.
The attorney for Luther Lewis Ware, 64, of Bronx, NY, filed a motion to reduce his bail which was discussed recently in Clearfield County Court.
Ware is charged with manufacture/delivery/possession with intent to manufacture or deliver a controlled substance, criminal conspiracy/delivery of a controlled substance, corrupt organizations, criminal conspiracy/corrupt organizations, dealing in proceeds of unlawful acts, and criminal use of communication facility in one case and is charged with six counts of manufacture/delivery/possession with intent to manufacture or deliver a controlled substance, criminal use of communication facility, and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities in his another case from October.
When Ware was originally incarcerated, he was released on supervised bail due to his medical conditions. His medications were previously estimated to cost from $25,000 to $30,000 per month, according to court documents. He was arrested for the second set of charges in March and he has been incarcerated since that time.
After his preliminary hearing, his attorney, Jeff DuBois asked for his bail to be reduced but this was denied. DuBois then filed a motion with the court of common pleas.
DuBois explained to President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman that Ware is not receiving all of his medications and has not been able to attend doctor appointments.
David Gorman of the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office, who is prosecuting the case, stated that the bail in these cases needs to be significant because of the seriousness of the charges. He also stated that if convicted, Ware will be looking at a lengthy state sentence due to his previous record. He opposed any reduction to Ware’s $100,000 bail.
Ammerman said he couldn’t disagree with the idea that Ware has a good reason to flee and noted the only contacts Ware “has in Clearfield County are drug dealers.” He did state that if the doctor at the jail finds Ware is having problems, he could be transferred to a state facility while he waits for the trial.
Ammerman then denied the motion to reduce Ware’s bail.
Gorman also stated that he has filed a motion to consolidate the two cases because they will have the same witnesses. DuBois replied that he had no problem with this and Ammerman granted this motion.
DuBois discussed his motion for a continuance, which he requested because he was only recently appointed to these cases. In addition, he was unavailable for jury selection April 16 due to a conflict with another trial in Elk County.
Ammerman stated that Ware is “costing us way too much money,” adding he wanted to get this trial done as quickly as possible. Ammerman’s other consideration was a busy summer trial schedule, which would make it difficult to reschedule Ware’s trial.
DuBois suggested having another attorney replace him at jury selection.
Ammerman agreed with this and said if there is any problem picking a jury there is a possibility the jurors could be chosen during the next civil jury selection.
Ware’s trial will remain scheduled for June 9-11.
According to testimony at the preliminary hearing, Ware was bringing between $5,000 and $10,000 of crack cocaine into Clearfield on a regular basis. He arranged for Manuj McCoon to come to the area to specifically handle his transactions because everyone Ware was dealing with in the area was either stealing the money or the drugs, McCoon said.
When Ware was arrested in October, police found 180 bags of heroin and 13 bags of crack cocaine in Ware’s Clearfield apartment.