Phelan

HOLLIDAYSBURG — A Blair County jury has convicted a former Altoona man of possession with intent to deliver heroin/fentanyl and methamphetamine while acquitting him of the same offense for lesser quantities of two additional drugs.

Allen L. Phelan Jr., 48, currently incarcerated in the Blair County Prison and who listed a Martinsburg address when arrested in 2024, was convicted Wednesday at the end of a two-day trial.

Judge Jackie Bernard, who presided over the trial, has scheduled sentencing for June 6.

“(Phelan) was running a one-stop shop in Altoona for illegal drugs,” Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Mays told the jury in his opening statement and closing argument where he spoke of various drugs police found Aug. 25, 2023, at Phelan’s residence, then on the 1200 block of 15th Avenue in Altoona.

First Assistant Chief Public Defender Julia Burke asked the jurors to recognize Phelan as someone engaging in personal drug use to address his addiction.

“He was using every substance he’s accused of delivering,” Burke said.

In rendering verdicts, the jury acquitted Phelan of possession with intent to deliver buprenorphine, also known as Suboxone, a drug typically used to treat opioid addiction and pain. He had nine strips at his apartment, with an estimated street value of $400.

The jury also acquitted Phelan of possession with intent to deliver clonazepam, a drug typically used for anxiety disorders. He had 12 pills in his possession, with a street value of $150.

Phelan’s guilty verdict of possession with intent to deliver was tied to 54 grams of heroin/fentanyl collected from his apartment, with estimated street value of $25,000.

A second conviction for possession with intent to deliver reflected the 13 grams of methamphetamine, with a street value of $1,300, found in his apartment.

During trial, Phelan exercised his right to remain silent.

Testimony indicated that Phelan, after staying with a girlfriend, returned to his Altoona apartment and found things out of place and a broken window, prompting him to call police.

Burke told the jury that police jumped to the wrong conclusions after they were admitted into Phelan’s apartment to investigate a burglary.

“The burglary investigation was over within five minutes of their arrival,” the defense attorney said.

Mays asked the jury to recognize that the officers had good reason to focus on the drugs and drug paraphernalia they spotted inside Phelan’s apartment.

“He had the drugs, the material to weigh and measure … and all the tools needed for selling,” Mays said.

Testifying officers reported seeing surveillance cameras inside Phelan’s apartment, including one activated by movement. While encouraging Phelan to look for missing property, they noticed a camera inside a closet. Phelan said the camera was in the closet because he was collecting and storing goods for a pawn shop he intended to open.

Police, after securing a search warrant, found and collected various quantities of white, light brown and light pink powders and crystalline substances — later testing positive as heroin/fentanyl and methamphetamine. They also collected small plastic bags, a box of about 100 unused vials and a device to funnel powder into those vials.

To address Burke’s claim that Phelan’s drugs were for personal use, May showed video from a police officer’s body camera, where an officer asked Phelan about his drug use. Phelan replied that he had been clean for about three weeks.

Burke also tried to influence the jury’s verdicts by pointing out the prosecution’s case identified no buyers or evidence of any drug sales.

“No, there’s no sales here,” Mays admitted. “But circumstantial evidence is all you need for a conviction.”

Phelan is facing additional drug-related charges in two additional cases that developed from traffic stops on Jan. 12, 2024, and on April 1, 2024.

In the January stop, a Logan Township police officer pulled Phelan over after seeing him drive through a red light at the I-99 exit ramp onto Frankstown Road. While the officer was attempting to assess Phelan’s sobriety, two bags of suspected methamphetamine fell from the right leg of Phelan’s pants, based on criminal charges.

A search of Phelan’s vehicle yielded the following suspected drugs: cocaine, marijuana, acid tablets, clonazepam pills, ecstasy pills and a glass vial with a white powder.

In the April traffic stop, at 19th Street and Pleasant Valley Boulevard, an Altoona police officer stopped Phelan after noticing an expired registration speaker. In that case, a search of the vehicle yielded a plastic bag with white power, a vial of suspected heroin/fentanyl, a vial of a white unidentified substance, two bottles of unidentified pills, marijuana and various packing materials.

Charges are pending in both cases.

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