Weyandt

The saga of two Altoona residents arrested on several drug-trafficking charges began with an abandoned car riddled by bullets, a commonwealth criminal complaint said.

Jerrell Smith, 33, and Stephanie Weyandt, 32, were arraigned Thursday by Magisterial District Judge Andrew Blattenberger, following an investigation conducted by the Altoona Police Department in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and the Pennsylvania National Guard.

After hauling away an abandoned Buick registered to Weyandt from the Logan Hills Apartments on Aug. 15, Exclusive Towing employees discovered an odor of marijuana inside the car while searching for ownership information, court documents said.

Because the passenger door was pitted with bullet holes, the towing company opened the vehicle’s trunk to ensure that no one was inside, and instead, they found a duffel bag with about $50,000 in cash and called the APD, according to a police report.

Police said they towed and stored the vehicle at the APD impound garage until a search warrant could be compiled on Aug. 17.

About the same time, Weyandt contacted Exclusive to retrieve the vehicle, offering the company extra money to pick up the car on the same day, court documents state.

When Weyandt learned the Buick was at the impound garage, police said she contacted Detective Fred Wasser to inquire about getting the car back. Wasser was investigating a firearm incident from July, during which Weyandt’s Buick was shot, court documents said.

Police conducted a Labor and Industry check on Weyandt, and discovered her most recent employer was Smith, who paid her about $50,000 and had no Labor and Industry record himself, court documents state.

In 2008, Weyandt pleaded guilty to drug-related charges, police said.

APD also had an active felony, drug-related warrant for Smith, a criminal complaint stated.

About noon on Aug. 17, Altoona police, with the help of a Department of Corrections K-9 unit and National Guard ion scan, searched the vehicle and its contents, discovering about $62,000, marijuana, cocaine, pill bottles with Smith’s name on them and loose sandwich bags, the police stated.

The ion scan revealed money found in the vehicle produced “abnormally high” readings for methamphetamine and cocaine, indicating narcotics were likely handled with the money, police said.

On Aug. 26, Blair County Court of Common Pleas approved tracing efforts on cellphone lines linked to Weyandt, court documents stated.

Police said they traced the phones traveling to Philadelphia, Ocean City, Md., Las Vegas and Atlanta between August and October. One of the traced phones traveled to a suspected drug source area in Brooklyn on Tuesday, court documents said.

Once the phones returned to Altoona on Wednesday, members of the APD, state Attorney General’s office and Blair County Drug Task Force served a search warrant at 300 Spruce Ave., Weyandt’s listed address, court documents said.

Both Smith and Weyandt were arrested at the address, where police discovered a bag of suspected crack cocaine, nearly 8 ounces of meth and about 20 grams of crack cocaine, as well as about $2,000, police said.

Weyandt told police she legally obtained the $62,000 previously seized from the Buick, according to a police report.

Prior to the arrest, law enforcement observed a female make trips between the residence and a Nissan Maxima registered to Weyandt and parked nearby, court documents said.

A K-9 unit certified in the detection of several narcotics alerted police to the possibility of drugs inside the Nissan and Chevrolet Suburban parked beside it, police said.

After transporting Smith and Weyandt to the Altoona police station, police said they discovered a bag of suspected crack cocaine inside Smith’s anus.

Smith and Weyandt are jailed at the Blair County Prison, and neither posted their individual $200,000 cash bails, court documents stated.

A photograph of Smith was not provided by the prison.

Preliminary hearings for Smith and Weyandt are scheduled with Magisterial District Judge Daniel DeAntonio on Oct. 28.

Mirror Staff Writer Ike Fredregill is at 946-7458.