A Philadelphia man accused of trafficking more than $22,000 worth of narcotics in the city had all charges against him sent to the court of common pleas following a preliminary hearing in Blair County Central Court.

Ruben Almando Rivera, 30, is facing three felony counts of possession with intent to deliver and single misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Altoona police officer Stephen Fox was the only witness to take the stand during Wednesday’s proceedings. He said officers were conducting surveillance in the area of a known drug house on June 12 when Fox “observed a hand-to-hand exchange between two individuals” outside a second known drug house nearby. Fox then saw Rivera and co-defendant Tyrone Chase Jr., 29, leave the second house about “five to 10 minutes” later.

Chase, also of Philadelphia, faces identical charges to Rivera. He is being held at the Blair County Prison on $400,000 bail awaiting a July 9 preliminary hearing in front of Magisterial District Judge Benjamin F. Jones, who presided over Rivera’s case on Wednesday.

Fox said he watched Chase enter a vehicle’s driver’s side, while Rivera entered its passenger side, and drive away. He saw the vehicle’s window tint was too dark and followed Chase and Rivera to perform a traffic stop, Fox said.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, officers deployed the department’s K-9 Officer Blue, who conducted an open-air sniff of the vehicle and alerted to the presence of controlled substances.

Officers received consent to search the vehicle from Chase, and Fox said a document containing the names of known local drug dealers in the area, referred to as an “Owe Sheet,” was found in the passenger side. He also said drugs were found in “the void under the center console” of the car.

“The carpet of the vehicle was very loose near the gas pedal,” Fox said. When the carpet was pulled back, officers were able to pop off the center console’s plastic siding and expose the drugs.

The affidavit listed the items found in the vehicle as about 585 bags of heroin/fentanyl with a street value of $11,700, one gram of loose fentanyl valued at $500, 100 grams of crack cocaine with a street value of $10,000 and about $1,274 in cash.

When asked by Rivera’s attorney Brian Vincent Manchester about how he knew the building Rivera came out of was a drug house, Fox said the APD had “busted numerous individuals out of that house” during “prior investigations.”

Manchester then stated that carpet in vehicles would be difficult to pull up, to which Fox said “it wasn’t fastened anymore” and “required very little manipulation on my end.”

Manchester also questioned the exact accuracy rate of Blue, who had control of the vehicle and how much cash each defendant had on their person at the time of the incident.

Fox said the last time he “put pencil to paper,” Blue’s accuracy rate was about 94% and that Chase both had control of the vehicle and $11,000 “on him” while Rivera had $120.

“Based on your experience, drug dealers tend to have a large amount of cash on them, right?” Manchester said.

Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Thomas asked Fox if the drugs were accessible from both sides of the center console and Fox said yes.

“Both sides were manipulated,” Fox said.

Following Fox’s testimony, Manchester requested the case be thrown out for lack of evidence.

In regard to the drugs, Fox couldn’t confirm that they were heroin, fentanyl or crack cocaine, as the department hadn’t received lab test results back yet.

“Should’ve, would’ve, could’ve is not good enough when it comes to heroin,” Manchester said. “They should have pulled out a NIC kit.”

Manchester said there was also no evidence that the car belonged to Rivera, since it was rented to someone else in Philadelphia and he was only a passenger.

“There’s no proof my client took part in this,” Manchester said. “Going to a drug house with your friend is not illegal.”

Thomas argued Rivera had access to the drugs from his side of the vehicle, which was also where the owe sheet was located. He said Rivera had no other ties to the Blair County area.

Jones ultimately bound all charges against Rivera to the court of common pleas despite saying he understood Manchester’s arguments.

“The owe sheet on the passenger side made the case on the Commonwealth’s side,” Jones said.

A bail reduction hearing followed the preliminary hearing, with Manchester requesting Rivera be released on “low, unsecured $10,000-$15,000 bail.”

Manchester cited his previous arguments and added that Rivera’s crimes were “non-violent.”

Thomas asked for Rivera’s monetary bail of $400,000 to remain unchanged to ensure his appearance at later court dates. He also said Rivera had a prior conviction for possession with intent to deliver.

In denying the bail reduction, Jones told Manchester it was due to Rivera’s “lack of change.”

“He’s on parole out of Philly for similar offenses,” Jones said. “It just doesn’t bode well for him.”

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458