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A Shickshinny man died Friday in a five-vehicle crash on Interstate 81 in Dauphin County.
David Vogen, 44, died after being trapped inside his Volvo, which was crushed underneath a dump truck that tipped near mile marker 67.9, police said. Vogen’s passenger escaped the Volvo without injury.
The accident closed I-81 for about six hours Friday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
KINGSTON – Two men were arrested on drug charges Saturday as they were on the way to make a delivery, police said.
Roberto Alvarez-Marquez, 23, of Shenandoah, and Juan C. Alvarez, 25, of Hazleton, were stopped on East Walnut Street and found in their vehicle was crack cocaine and cocaine with a street value of $6,000, heroin with a street value of $6,000 and a loaded .45-caliber handgun and more than $2,000 in cash, police said. Alvarez-Marquez is a member of the “Trinitarios” street gang, police said.
The two men were the focus of a two-week investigation during which police made controlled buys of heroin and cocaine, police said. The pair transported the drugs from the Hazleton area to sell in Kingston, police said.
Each man was arraigned on felony narcotics trafficking charges and committed to the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $100,000 bail. Additional charges are expected to be filed, police said.
HAZLE TWP. – State police said Elizabeth Burgos, 41, of West Hazleton, was charged with retail theft Friday after she was caught stealing children’s clothes from the Kmart store in Hazle Township.
HAZLE TWP. – Alert Construction, of Fredonia, Kansas, reported to state police that someone stole a gray 1998 Ford F-150 pickup truck, possibly with an Alabama registration, belonging to the company from Barber Ford on state Route 309 sometime between Feb. 3 and Feb. 9.
• State police arrested Nicholas Avillion, 43, of Hazleton, on DUI charges Friday. State police said Avillion drove his vehicle off the side of state Route 309 southbound and that the vehicle became lodged in the snow at approximately 11 p.m.
RICE TWP. – One man sustained minor injuries when a tanker truck collided with a pickup towing a camper on Interstate 81 northbound early Friday morning.
State police said Brian Schwing, 31, Nanticoke, was driving a 2011 Freightliner tanker truck behind the Dodge Ram pickup and trailer driven by John Pavlicek, 47, of Moscow, at approximately 2:45 a.m. Schwing took his eyes off the road to pick up an item that had fallen from the truck’s visor, at which point he struck Pavlicek’s camper, state police said. The camper rolled over, dragging the pickup truck over with it.
Pavlicek sustained minor injuries and was taken by Hanover Ambulance to Hazleton General Hospital for treatment, state police said. Schwing was not injured.