Crime & Safety

Skittish Teen Heroin Dealer Arrested, Police Say

18-year-old met with confidential police informant to sell drugs in South Bethlehem, police say.

A suspected 18-year-old drug dealer was reluctant to sell heroin to a confidential police informant in South Bethlehem on Wednesday afternoon because, he said, there were a lot of cops in the area, according to court papers.

Soon after he left the informant’s car near the corner of E. Fourth and Atlantic streets, Manuel D. Garcia found out just how right he was. Bethlehem police arrested him, finding that he had an amount of heroin on him, court records say.

The informant, in the presence of police, had made arrangements via text message to meet Garcia to buy drugs, the arrest affidavit says.

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Garcia, whose last known address is 430 W. Union Boulevard in the city, was charged with possession with intent to deliver and criminal attempt to deliver heroin.

He was arraigned before District Judge Nancy Matos Gonzalez and committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $30,000 bail.

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