Key witness helped officers make drug bust at apartment complex, police say

MT. PLEASANT, Pa. — Police in Westmoreland County are crediting a key witness with helping them make a drug bust at a local apartment complex.

It took weeks of investigating, but it's being described as the biggest bust in the history of Mount Pleasant Borough.

Related: Anonymous tips lead to month-long drug investigation, bust

Heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana and three guns were found at an apartment in Pleasant Acres.

"We had multiple tips from the community saying there was a large amount of cars coming in and out of there," said Officer Nathan Ellwood, with the Mount Pleasant police.

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"Originally, I was in one of their vehicles They called me up and asked if I'd run to the store for them," a man said. "I pulled in. That's when the police officers pulled me over."

The man Ellwood pulled over was Jeff McCloy. He's a tenant and a maintenance worker for the apartments and said he was the one who tipped police off to apartment 11.

"He actually had some narcotics on him and immediately told us they were making crack cocaine," Ellwood said.

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"I explained to them, just from being in that apartment and what to look for," McCloy said. "They looked outside and, in a garbage bag, they found everything."

"We did an area search and behind apartment 11 is where we found the handgun and garbage bag we were looking for, with all the narcotics," Ellwood said.

Police used a K-9 to track the scent from footprints from apartment 11 all the way to the maintenance man's home, apartment 35.

Inside, police found three men from Allegheny County -- John Saban, James Clarke and Devon Mitchell  -- and arrested them.

McCloy lost his job as the maintenance man and both he and his girlfriend, who lived in apartment 11, are now in the process of being evicted from the complex.

Cox Media Group