Two facing drug charges in Tamaqua

Tamaqua Police have filed drug related charges against two people after an incident on West Rowe Street on April 16.

Officers were dispatched to Rowe and Swatara Streets for suspicious activity. On scene, the officer found a white Subaru parked on Hegarty Avenue, with the engine running. Shirley Hazlett, 29, of 53 Fox Run Road, New Ringgold, was in the driver's seat.

When she saw the officer, Hazlett began making furtive movements. She said she was waiting for two friends to come out of one of the residences. When asked if she had any contraband, Hazlett replied there was a bag on the front passenger seat and gave the officer permission to conduct a search.

The bag contained several wax packets and a bag of syringes. The car contained a variety of syringes, wax packets and drug paraphernalia. The items were confiscated and the vehicle secured in a legal parking space as Hazlett earned a trip to the Schuylkill County Prison in Pottsville due to a bench warrant for her arrest.

She was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.

Minutes after an officer drove away with Hazlett, George Michael Cope, 29, of 201 Clay St., Tamaqua, entered Hazlett's parked vehicle. As an officer spoke with him, Cope kept putting his hands in his pockets. The officer instructed him to keep his hands in the open, but Cope kept placing them back in his pockets. A pat down search was conducted for the officer's safety, turning up a syringe in Cope's back pocket.

He was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.