Schuylkill County law enforcement will soon get almost a quarter of a million dollars to help fight drugs, District Attorney Karen Byrnes-Noon said Wednesday.
"We have been anxiously awaiting this money," Byrnes-Noon said of the more than $245,000 the state attorney general's office is turning over to the county as a result of the case of a local businessman who admitted intending to sell the drug known as bath salts.
John O'Keefe, 49, of Frackville, owner of the Dragon Emporium and Nirvana's Closet, pleaded guilty on March 28 in Berks County Court to four counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. Law enforcement seized the forfeited money from O'Keefe, who is serving his sentence in Schuylkill County Prison.
Byrnes-Noon announced the receipt of the forfeited money at the annual Schuylkill County Police Symposium at the Pottsville Club.
State law requires police and prosecutors to use money forfeited by drug dealers to fight drugs, but there should be no lack of applicants for the cash, First Assistant District Attorney Thomas J. Campion Jr. said.
"We'll be able to spread this money throughout the county," said Campion, who heads the district attorney's office's forfeiture unit. "I would expect that we won't have to go looking for people to give the money to."
Local police chiefs are looking forward to trying to get some of the money.
"We'll have to sit down and work out a plan," Hegins Township police Chief Steven S. Lohr said. "There's so much we need."
Port Carbon police Chief Jon J. Bowman said he has a specific idea for part of the money: an e-citation project that would involve a scanner and printer for traffic tickets.
"That's something I've been trying to get," he said.
Byrnes-Noon said she will begin to distribute the money at 10 a.m. Oct. 7 at a ceremony at the county Courthouse. Any local department that wants a share should submit an application to her office no later than Sept. 27, she said.
Campion said the amount is the largest he has seen forfeited as the result of a drug case in the more than seven years he has been handling such cases in the office.
"It's a lot of money that can be used for good against these drug dealers as opposed to working for their benefit," he said.