CLEARFIELD – A former Curwensville man pleaded guilty during court Monday for having over $19,000 when police stopped him outside a “drug house.”
Thomas Stephen Scott, 58, currently an inmate of state prison, was sentenced by President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman to 27 months to six years in state prison for felony dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities.
This sentence will run consecutive to his current state prison sentence of one to three years.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, in May 2022, police saw Scott’s vehicle pulling out from a known high drug traffic residence in Centre County. Troopers followed and one checked the registration on the vehicle and learned it belonged to Scott, whose license was suspended.
A traffic stop was initiated in a parking lot in Chester Hill, Clearfield County. While speaking with Scott, the officer asked if there was any methamphetamine located in his truck. Scott denied this, but put his hands behind his back.
“This is a common subconscious tendency that criminals exhibit as the thoughts of being handcuffed or arrested enter their consciousness,” the officer wrote in the criminal complaint.
After agreeing to a search, Scott said there was meth residue in the truck and a pipe used for smoking meth. Scott had $3,000 in cash in his wallet bound with colored rubber bands. A small amount of meth was found in his front pocket.
The search uncovered the pipe, two vape pens and multiple colored rubber bands scattered throughout the vehicle. In the lining of a jacket on the floor were multiple bundles of currency, bound with the same rubber bands.
Scott admitted he had approximately $19,000 to $20,000 in total. But claimed he had been paid for two different construction projects but couldn’t give the full name of either client.
The next day, the trooper visited Scott’s residence to deliver a copy of his receipt for the money seized. At that time, Scott admitted that some of the money was obtained through the distribution of drugs.
The currency, which totaled $19,250, tested positive for the presence of both cocaine and meth, according to the report.
