Mirror photo by Greg Bock / Miranda Streightiff, 24, of Altoona is escorted into Central Court for her arraignment on heroin charges during a Blair County drug sweep on Thursday. Altoona police, state agents with the Attorney General’s Office, officers with the Blair County Drug Task Force, Blair County sheriff’s deputies and state troopers set out early Thursday with felony arrest warrants for 45 people, 14 of whom were already in jail on previous charges.

Mirror photo by Greg Bock / Miranda Streightiff, 24, of Altoona is escorted into Central Court for her arraignment on heroin charges during a Blair County drug sweep on Thursday. Altoona police, state agents with the Attorney General’s Office, officers with the Blair County Drug Task Force, Blair County sheriff’s deputies and state troopers set out early Thursday with felony arrest warrants for 45 people, 14 of whom were already in jail on previous charges.

Sitting before Magisterial District Judge Paula Aigner on Thursday, drug suspect Chelsea Deihl said she was sober, something her mother who was sitting in the back of the Central Court courtroom confirmed.

But there was something about Deihl’s demeanor that Aigner said made her think otherwise. Deihl, who is two weeks away from delivering a baby, is on probation for a December 2016 guilty plea to conspiracy and unauthorized use of an automobile charges.

She was before Aigner on charges she sold heroin on three occasions in May, June and July of last year.

“Do you have the ability to test her right now?” Aigner asked a representative of Blair County Adult Probation & Parole, who was in the courtroom. Aigner was told the equipment was available, sitting in a vehicle in the parking lot, so Aigner recessed Deihl’s arraignment so probation agents could test the soon-to-be-mother for drugs.

Deihl had come up “hot” for marijuana in December, Aigner had been told, but after a short break, the results from Thursday came back negative.

“The reason I tested you is I don’t know you and you don’t appear to me to be very sharp today, with the answers to my questions,” Aigner explained.

Deihl was then reminded that she would be subjected to weekly drug testing, which is part of her probation and also now part of her supervised bail.

In all, Altoona police, state agents with the Attorney General’s Office, officers with the Blair County Drug Task Force, Blair County sheriff’s deputies and state troopers set out early Thursday with felony arrest warrants for 45 people, 14 of whom were already in jail on previous charges.

By the end of the day, 11 remained at large. Thursday’s drug sweep represented a mix of low- and mid-level dealers suspected of selling everything from marijuana and LSD to heroin and prescription medication meant to fight opiate addiction.

“We’re doing our best to get these drugs off the street,” said Blair County District Attorney Richard Consiglio, who pointed out that drugs continue to flow into Blair County because “there is a big appetite here for these drugs.”

Consiglio said Operation Our Town has been instrumental in helping fund drug investigations like the one that led to Thursday’s arrests as well as the grand jury investigation arrests on Monday.

Opioids continue to be the biggest problem facing the area when it comes to illicit drugs, Consiglio said.

“Our officers are out, literally seven days a week, at all hours of the daytime, evening and sometimes overnight, combating the drug problem in Blair County,” Altoona police Detective Lt. Benjamin Jones said of the culmination of cases that led to Thursday’s busts.

Jones said officers continue to work to arrest suspected dealers and said the community benefits when low-level dealers, who are themselves usually users, get arrested.

Jones pointed out it helps keep crimes such as theft, that goes along with the drug problem in check and also does a lot to motivate users to get help.

“And maybe it opens their eyes and gives them the motivation to get better,” Jones said.

Preliminary hearings for the suspects arrested Thursday are slated for April 27.