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ASHLEY — A Hanover Township man gave up heroin packets concealed in his sock and a bag of crack cocaine hidden in his groin area after he was arrested for initiating a pursuit that ended in a crash on Manhattan Street on Wednesday.
Alejandro Rivera Robles, 20, of Lee Park Avenue, admitted he purchased the illicit drugs for a friend prior to fleeing borough police on North Main Street for driving a Nissan pickup truck with a license plate registered to a Toyota, according to court records.
Robles was arraigned by District Judge Michael G. Dotzel in Wilkes-Barre Township on charges of fleeing or attempting to elude police, damage to an unattended vehicle, reckless driving, driving with a suspended license, driving an unregistered vehicle, possession of a small amount of marijuana and two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia. He was released on $15,000 unsecured bail.
According to the criminal complaint:
Robles was operating a Nissan truck when he passed a borough police officer monitoring traffic in the area of North Main and Cemetery streets at about 5 p.m.
A license plate reader in the cruiser indicated the Nissan was unregistered and the license plate was registered to a Toyota.
Robles turned onto Church Lane, a dead-end, and turned around back onto North Main Street where he fled at a high rate or speed before turning onto Brown Street.
Police in the complaint say Robles then turned onto Manhattan Street failing to obey a stop sign and struck a parked vehicle with bystanders near-by.
Robles continued to drive on Manhattan Street before stopping near Green Street where he was arrested.
Police allege Robles surrendered heroin packets from his sock and a bag of crack cocaine from his groin area.
Robles told police, the complaint says, he purchased the drugs for a friend and fled because he was “scared” and an officer would have detected an odor of marijuana from his vehicle, the complaint says.