More than $1,000 found at the scene of a February 2015 drug arrest in West Mahanoy Township belongs to prosecutors, a Schuylkill County judge decided Thursday.
After a 30-minute hearing, Judge James P. Goodman ruled prosecutors had proven the $1,064.22 discovered on Feb. 5, 2015, in a room at Granny’s Motel in Altamont came from the sale of drugs and should be forfeited to the state rather than returned to Jeffrey M. Dargis.
“The money was in close proximity to drugs,” Goodman said. “The money was derivative contraband.”
Dargis had pleaded guilty on Sept. 23, 2015, to possession of drug paraphernalia, with prosecutors withdrawing two counts of conspiracy and one of possession of a controlled substance. At that time, Goodman placed Dargis on probation for 12 months, and also sentenced him to pay costs, $100 to the Substance Abuse Education Fund and $50 to the Criminal Justice Enhancement Account.
West Mahanoy Township police alleged Dargis possessed numerous items of drug paraphernalia, including packaging materials, on Feb. 5, 2015, at Granny’s Motel, which is near the Route 61 interchange of Interstate 81.
Dargis had testified his mother had given him the money to pay for an apartment. While he admitted he was using drugs, Dargis said the money did not come from them.
“It wasn’t made out of the drug trade or anything else,” he said.
However, Goodman found the testimony of township police Patrolman Raymond J. Tonkinson III more credible.
“As soon as I walked in ... I did notice wax baggies,” Tonkinson said of his entry to the motel room.
He also said he saw the money touching packaging materials in an open drawer to the night stand in the room. Those materials are consistent with the drug trade, according to Tonkinson.
“That appears to be drug sales,” Tonkinson said of the evidence.
In his closing argument, Assistant District Attorney Kimm M. Montone also emphasized the location of the money.
“There’s a specific nexus between alleged drug activity and the money,” he said.