Monessen man jailed in cocaine seizure
MONESSEN – A Monessen man was arrested Tuesday following searches of his residences that allegedly produced a large amount of cocaine and other drugs under an investigation by the state attorney general’s office.
Joshua Paul Vanhooser, 37, was taken into custody at an Elizabeth Township residence where investigators claimed to have seized four days earlier 3 kilograms of cocaine and a large sum of money, according to charging documents.
Also Tuesday, investigators, armed with a sealed search warrant, raided Vanhooser’s other residence at 515 Page St., Monessen, and seized more cocaine, heroin, marijuana and steroids, the affidavit indicates.
Investigators seized more than $22,000 from Vanhooser in the investigation that involved a confidential source, who claimed that the cocaine seized at 551 Frencik St., Elizabeth Township, could only have been place there by the suspect.
That source also claimed to have witnessed Vanhooser with more than $100,000, and that he purchased and drove vehicles that were registered under different names, charging documents allege.
Vanhooser was accused of registering the vehicles in the names of others to “conceal the proceeds of illegal activity,” the agent noted in the affidavit. Meanwhile, Vanhooser has no reported income for the past four years and was receiving welfare benefits, court records indicate.
Investigators said they also discovered a shotgun at the Monessen residence of Vanhooser, who was not allowed to have firearms because he was convicted of drug delivery in 2009.
They also seized receipts for various appliances, a title for a boat, an all-terrain vehicle and a modem for a surveillance camera system.
Vanhooser was charged with knowledge that his property was the proceeds of illegal activity, drug possession with intent to deliver, illegal possession of a firearm, marijuana possession with intent to deliver, drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.
He was sent to Westmoreland County Jail on $100,000 bond set Wednesday by Senior District Judge James Falcon.