DUBOIS – A DuBois man is facing felony drug charges for allegedly selling drugs.
Dirk Matthew Painter, 32, was charged by DuBois City police with manufacture/delivery/possession of a controlled substance and criminal conspiracy, both felonies, as well as two misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance in relation to an incident on Aug. 25.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, an officer spotted Painter, who had an active warrant for his arrest and another man, riding bicycles through DuBois City Park.
Painter and the man stopped in the parking lot of the Salvation Army. After the officer rolled down his window and yelled “Dirk stop,” Painter kept walking, it says in the criminal complaint.
When the officer got out of the patrol car, Painter “took off in a fast-paced manner” and went into the Salvation Army.
The people inside the building were having a birthday party for small children and Painter tried to push past them.
The officer was able to gain control of Painter, take him into custody and take him outside.
Although the adults at the party yelled at the officer with one saying: “I can’t believe you would do this in front of children,” the officer continued to do his job by advising Painter of his rights.
He reportedly found Painter had a black zipper case attached to his right pocket and belt area which had a container with a crystalline substance suspected of being methamphetamine.
In a pants pocket, he also found a container with 25 blue tablets believed to be Clonazepam.
The manner in which he was carrying the methamphetamine was “consistent with possessing with intent to deliver or sell,” especially because Painter did not have any drug paraphernalia.
Painter agreed to a search of his phone, which revealed “multiple text messages relating to him engaging in illicit drug sales.”
In an interview with investigators, Painter admitted to selling methamphetamine and trading methamphetamine for the blue tablets with another suspect. Painter said he was planning on selling the tablets for $2 each, according to the report.
Painter is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Oct. 6 during centralized court in District Judge David Meholick’s office.
