Alleged Narcotics Dealers Await Formal Arraignment

by Jonathan Weaver

A pair of alleged narcotics dealers and gun thieves are awaiting their formal arraignment next week after a local judge held their cases for court.

Hank Kromer, of Ford City, and Marquis Rosser, of Pittsburgh, were two of the five people arrested after Ford City, Manor Township and Kittanning Borough Police officers executed a search warrant in the 900 block of Fifth Avenue in Ford City on April 1.

Stephanie Swindler – also of Ford City -, Chaunie Bennett of Templeton, and Jayvon Craighead of Penn Hills were also arrested in that raid.

In April, the latter three waived their right to a preliminary hearing before District Magisterial Judge Gary DeComo, Rosser and Kromer’s hearings were continued until mid-May.

Judge DeComo has since held charges against Kromer and Rosser for Common Pleas court. Formal arraignments are scheduled for next week.

Unlike Kromer and Rosser, Craighead has had his bail reduced and Swinder given her conditional release from the Armstrong County Jail at the beginning of May to enter into a treatment facility.

According to court affidavits filed April 2, Ford City Police received a search warrant for the residence belonging to Swindler and executed a search warrant shortly before midnight that evening.

After securing several individuals inside the apartment, officers observed drug paraphernalia and illegal narcotics in plain view. Troopers later found suspected heroin, marijuana and crack cocaine in the residence, as well as stamp bags, Xanax pills and a burnt metal spoon among other items such as two stolen handguns.

Ford City Borough Police Chief Roger Wright said the suspected illegal activity has been “ongoing” for some time in the municipality.

“The aforementioned residence had been known to this department to be one of the largest and most complex dealers of illegal narcotics in our borough,” Chief Wright wrote in a previous news release.

All five individuals are charged with either one or two counts of felony receiving stolen property, felony possession with intent to manufacture or deliver, felony corrupt organizations and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.

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