Pit Bull Attacks Lead Police to Alleged Crack Dealer

An investigation of two pit bull attacks in the neighborhood of N. New and Ettwein streets led Bethlehem police to the arrest of a suspected crack cocaine dealer who lives there, according to court records.

Gerald D. Crowley, 34, of 9 W. Ettwein St., was arrested Thursday night on drugs and weapons charges, as well as multiple counts related to the pit bull “Roxy,” which attacked two other dogs and one dog’s owner in two separate June incidents, police said.

Police who executed a search warrant at Crowley’s home on July 8 found a “quantity” of crack cocaine that “along with the way they were kept and the materials and equipment found in close proximity is consistent with possession of narcotics with intent to deliver,” the arrest affidavit says.

Among those items found in Crowley’s locked bedroom was a gun—a loaded Sturm Ruger .357 Magnum, police said. Crowley has been convicted five times of felony narcotics law violations, making it illegal for him to possess a firearm, police said.

The investigation began with a report, made shortly after midnight on June 30, by a man who said that he and his dog had been the victims of an unprovoked pit bull attack near N. New and Ettwein streets, according to the court record.

The man later identified “Roxy” as the dog that attacked, police said. Later, another witness came forward and told police that, on June 10, Roxy had been loose on his property and attacked his dog, also without provocation, police said.

Arresting Officer Benjamin Hackett, who is Bethlehem’s animal control officer, wrote in the affidavit that on July 8 he responded to 9 W. Ettwein for a report of a dog “hanging from a tie out.”

Once on the scene, Hackett wrote, he talked to a man who identified himself as Shawn Givins. Givins said he was the owner of the dog and admitted that he had no dog license, police said. The dog, which turned out to be Roxy, also had no rabies vaccination tag.

That same day, Hackett and Det. Jason Hammer entered the home with valid search warrants, when the drugs and weapon was discovered, the affidavit says.

The New Jersey driver’s license belonging to the man who called himself Givins identified him as Crowley, police said.  A fingerprint lifted from a television in the locked bedroom also matched Crowley’s known fingerprints, police said.

The materials and equipment found in Crowley’s locked bedroom included “a package heat-sealing device, mixing bowls and spoons, plates, razor blades, small zip lock-style bags and a plant grinder,” according to the warrant.

Court papers do not say and Bethlehem Police Information Officer Robert Urban said he did not know what the current disposition is of Crowley’s pit bull.

Crowley was charged with possession with intent to deliver crack cocaine and illegal possession of firearms, both felonies. He also faces misdemeanor charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and providing false identification to law enforcement.

Finally, he also faces four summary charges in relation to Roxy—harboring a dangerous dog, failure to confine a dog, failure to obtain a dog license and failure to obtain a rabies vaccination.

He was arraigned before on-duty District Judge Joseph Barner of Lower Nazareth Township and committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $25,000 bail.