Blair County women held on drug counts
Petrauskas, Cowher accused of trafficking heroin, fentanyl
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Two Blair County women were taken into custody after allegedly trafficking heroin and fentanyl from Pittsburgh to Altoona.
Linda Ellen Cowher, 57, of Tyrone and Brandi Lynn Petrauskas, 43, no fixed address, were arraigned Oct. 30 by Magisterial District Judge Daniel C. DeAntonio on identical charges of felony possession with intent to deliver and criminal attempt to commit possession with intent to deliver, as well as single misdemeanor counts of possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance.
Both women were remanded to the Blair County Prison in lieu of respective $30,000 bails.
Cowher and Petrauskas were arrested Oct. 29 by Altoona police after officers learned the pair were traveling to Pittsburgh to obtain heroin and fentanyl and transporting it back to Altoona. Officers conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle operated by Cowher along the 300 block of Theater Drive in Duncansville, during which they observed Petrauskas stuffing items into her shirt that were later identified as drug paraphernalia, according to a Facebook post by APD.
An open-air sniff of the vehicle conducted by K-9 Blue yielded a positive alert of controlled substances. The vehicle was then taken to APD pending a search warrant. The subsequent execution of the search warrant yielded about 146 stamped bags of suspected fentanyl and $71 cash. The street value of the drugs seized was estimated to be about $3,000, the post states.
Cowher and Petrauskas are scheduled for preliminary hearings Nov. 12 in front of DeAntonio.