Duo Arrested for Suspected Heroin, Cocaine, Marijuana in East Pikeland

After a traffic stop in East Pikeland Township, two men sit in Chester County Prison facing numerous drug charges after police allege the men were in possession of cocaine, heroin and marijuana with intent to deliver.

On Tuesday at 10:19 p.m., Officer Ben Martin of the East Pikeland Township Police Department spotted a dark-colored sedan headed west on Schuylkill Road near Hares Hill Road. The car, according to Martin’s criminal complaint, lacked a license plate light.

Martin conducted a traffic stop, according to court papers, and the driver produced a license identifying himself as William McCarraher, 33, of Phoenixville. The passenger said he didn’t have his license.

According to the criminal complaint, the officer noticed an open container of beer in the sedan’s back seat. Martin reported that he asked the men if they had anything else in the car, and McCarraher said he just had the open container.

The officer walked around to speak with the passenger, who said his name was Jesse Maurice Thomas, according to the affidavit of probable cause. Martin wrote that he went to his patrol car to look up records on the men and then returned to the passenger side, where he noticed what appeared to be a marijuana blunt under Thomas’ feet.

Another officer arrived, and the passenger was asked to step out of the car. He was later identified as Wesley Thomas. As police searched Thomas, he was reportedly asked if he had anything in his shoes.

“When I asked him to raise up his right foot, Thomas raised his left,” Martin wrote in the criminal complaint. “While searching the inside of his left shoe, Thomas stated that he had marijuana in his other shoe.”

Martin reported finding a bag containing a substance consistent with marijuana. During the search, the officer also reported discovering $432.55 in cash in one of Thomas’ pockets.

Under the seat of the car, Martin reportedly located two bags with smaller bags inside of them.

“I immediately recognized the packaging to be consistent with that of cocaine and heroin,” Martin wrote in the affidavit of probable cause.

The other officer on scene told Martin that Thomas matched the description of a drug dealer in Phoenixville selling heroin, according to the court documents.

Both McCarraher and Thomas were taken to Pottstown overnight. The small bag with the green substance field tested positive for marijuana, according to the criminal complaint. The other bag with smaller bags inside contained a substance that field tested positive for cocaine.

“The other glassine bag contained a foil paper wrapper, which was stamped with ‘Witchcraft’ and a picture of a witch on a broom,” Martin wrote in the criminal complaint. “The foil paper held approximately 10 bundles of small glassine bags containing blue wax paper bags holding an off-white powdery substance.”

That substance field tested positive for heroin, according to the criminal complaint.

Thomas was arraigned Wednesday on charges of manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver; drug possession; possession of marijuana; use or possession of drug paraphernalia; and giving false identification to a police officer.

McCarraher was also arraigned Wednesday and faces charges of manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver; drug possession; marijuana possession; possession of drug paraphernalia; and a summary charge of restrictions on alcoholic beverages.

For each man, bail was set at $20,000 with 10 percent allowed. Neither posted bail and both remain in Chester County Prison awaiting a preliminary hearing on Aug. 25 at 10 a.m.