Yeah, Drugs Are Here Too

Coolbaugh Township is a little dot on the map in the Poconos. With a population of about 20,000 it doesn’t come up in the news much. This is one of those beautiful mountain communities where people spend their summers and dream of retiring to. But even here there are drugs, even hard drugs.

The Township doesn’t have their own police force. Rather, out of a nine million dollar budget, they contract for police services with the Pocono Mountain Regional Police to the tune of two million (2011 budget). And the PMRP were the arresting authority a few weeks ago when they raided a house on Ventnor Drive near Tobyhanna State park.

Police found drugs, guns, ammunition and cash. They took $2,200 in cash and three high-end cars. The drugs found were marijuana and more than 70 baggies of heroin – packaged for street sale. That last part is a bit of a worry. Police didn’t say if the heroin was to be sold locally or in one of the bigger cities – Scranton is about a 45 minute drive north.

The accused is Darren Taylor, a 21 year old. Also arrested at another location were a 17 year-old male and a 21 year-old female. Mr. Taylor has been charged with distribution of narcotics.

Police didn’t say whether the offenders were part of a larger organization and it’s the lack of details that makes it frustrating. Do our bedroom and vacation communities have a hard-drug problem? Who was the heroin meant to supply?

No doubt the investigation will continue and we’ll just have to trust the cops to do their job.
Meanwhile, it’s September in the Poconos. And that means harvest season for any marijuana plots hiding out in the woods. If you spot one, take a picture with your cell phone and get the GPS coordinates – and get out of there! Police caution that plots are often watched over and they are dangerous places to hang around. Report your find and maybe we can get back to less serious drug crimes in our mountain wonderlands.