HOLLIDAYSBURG — A Blair County jury has convicted an Altoona man of trading methamphetamine for heroin inside a Logan Township motel room.

Shannon Terrell Bennett, 50, who testified in his own defense and denied owning the drugs found inside the motel room, is now in the county prison awaiting his Feb. 18 sentencing.

Judge Wade A. Kagarise, who presided over Bennett’s trial, revoked Bennett’s bail after the jury returned with guilty verdicts for criminal conspiracy, delivery of a controlled substance, two counts of possession with intent to deliver, delivery of a controlled substance, criminal use of a communication facility and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Bennett, who was free on bail for about a year, sobbed as sheriff deputies escorted him from the courtroom and down the hall.

In preparation for sentencing, District Attorney Pete Weeks said he will ask Kagarise to scrutinize Bennett’s criminal history.

“This is (Bennett’s) ninth conviction for possession with intent to deliver,” Weeks said.

Bennett, whose history includes a conviction for strangulation, was on probation for that offense when he was arrested Sept. 10, 2020, on the drug charges at the motel room, Weeks said. Court documents show Bennett remained in prison for about a year after his arrest, until Dec. 12, 2020, when $40,000 cash bail was posted.

After the trial concluded, defense attorney Richard Corcoran said he anticipates that his client will want to appeal.

On the night Bennett was arrested, Logan Township police also arrested and filed drug-related charges against Dennis Pletcher and Cynthia Wissinger, both of Altoona.

Officers, while investigating an alarm at a business near the Rodeway Inn on Sterling Drive, observed Pletcher, riding a motorcycle, stop at the motel and head to a room where Bennett opened the door. After Pletcher left the motel, officers made a traffic stop and pulled him over on nearby Orchard Avenue.

Officers said Pletcher initially told them he had been at Bennett’s motel room to look at puppies. After Pletcher consented to being searched, police found 18 wax packages of suspected heroin, stamped “feeling good,” inside a cigarette package in his vest. They also opened his eyeglasses case and found a glass vial containing methamphetamine. Police said Pletcher then admitted to meeting with Bennett to trade methamphetamine for the heroin.

Police subsequently returned to the room at the Rodeway Inn where they found Bennett and Wissinger. After securing a search warrant for the room, police found and seized 48 wax packages of suspected heroin inside a vitamin supplement bottle, a digital scale between the bed’s mattress and box springs, a small amount of methamphetamine and $1,567 in cash.

Court records indicate that drug-related charges against Pletcher and Wissinger are still pending.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.