Tacoma police seize drugs, arrest suspected Hilltop dealer after he makes a run for it
Police found more than a pound of fentanyl and close to a pound of cocaine in a Hilltop home near People’s Park this week, Tacoma police said in a news release.
A 34-year-old man has been arrested and charged with two counts of dealing drugs and third-degree escape, court records show.
The man was arrested Tuesday while getting out of his car near a Hilltop restaurant where he’d been working. He was handcuffed and directed by police to a patrol car when he broke free and ran, court documents said. Police chased him down a few blocks away.
Officers searched his car and a home where the man’s girlfriend lives in the 800 block of South 13th Street, the records show.
In the home, police found 400.7 grams of cocaine, 339.8 grams of fentanyl in both pill and powder form, and $6,570 in cash. They found another $1,030 in cash in the man’s wallet, court documents said.
The defendant, recently released from prison, told police where he stashed the drugs, court documents said. When asked about where he got the cash, the defendant allegedly told police he’d been selling drugs to help support himself, his girlfriend and their children because his minimum-wage job did not provide enough money.
Police also searched his car and found an additional 327.3 grams of fentanyl and 14.2 grams of crack cocaine, according to the probable cause document.
Not guilty pleas have been entered on the man’s behalf in Pierce County Superior Court. He was being held in jail Friday in lieu of just under $50,000 bail, records show.
