Two members of the Lower Saucon Township Police Department played an important role in a recent Bethlehem Police Department operation that resulted in the arrest of a “substantial” Lehigh Valley drug dealer, according to a BPD news release.
Lower Saucon Township Police Department’s K-9 team member Atos is pictured with new equipment purchased with a grant from DeSales University’s Master of Criminal Justice program (FILE PHOTO).
On Monday, April 20, Lower Saucon’s K-9 officer and his partner Atos were summoned to the north end of the Hill-to-Hill Bridge in Bethlehem, where they assisted the BPD’s Vice and Special Operations Unit, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the Northampton County Drug Task Force with an investigation of Steven Kitchell, 36, of the 500 block of Thomas Street, who police said “has an extensive criminal history dating back to 1996, which includes assaults, drug charges, weapons violations, robbery and burglary.”
“Most recently in 2013, Kitchell was arrested by the Bethlehem Police Department for rape, assault, kidnapping and related charges following an incident on Carlton Avenue,” Bethlehem police said.
After Kitchell–who was driving a Chrysler Sebring–was stopped at 9:35 p.m. on the bridge, police said Atos was called upon to assist with a search of his car.
“K-9 ‘Atos’ indicated on the vehicle for the present of narcotics,” the release said. “The vehicle was searched and 3,500 packets of heroin, worth a street value of $35,000, were located in the vehicle. Also located in the vehicle was $502 in cash and multiple cell phones.”
Police said Kitchell had been under investigation for alleged drug-dealing since August 2014.
After the drugs were found in Kitchell’s car, police said a search warrant was obtained for his residence at 507A Thomas Street and another home at 419 Taylor Street.
“The search warrant for 507A Thomas Street was served at 1:17 am,” the news release said. “Located inside this residence was $8,980 and documents belonging to Kitchell. The search warrant for 419 Taylor Street was served at 2:09 am. Located inside this residence was a Sig Sauer 40 caliber semi-automatic pistol and ammunition, approximately a half pound of marijuana packaged for sale, 43 pills of Alprazolam, 50 pills of amphetamines, 23 pills of clonazepam, approximately one ounce of crack cocaine packaged for sale, approximately seven grams of powder cocaine packaged for sale, five bags of meth and packaging materials. The street value of drugs located at 419 Taylor Street was as follows; the pills were worth $2,320, the crack cocaine was worth $500, the powder cocaine was worth $2,800 and the meth was worth $250.”
Kitchell has been charged with eight counts of possession of a controlled substance, eight counts of possession with the intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and felon not to possess a firearm, according to the news release.
He was arraigned before Northampton County District Justice Antonia Grifo and committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $100,000 bail, it said.
In addition to the $9,482 in cash that was seized, Bethlehem police said they seized Kitchell’s vehicles, including the Sebring, a BMW, an Audi and a motorcycle.
“The investigation is continuing and additional arrests are forthcoming,” police said.
“Steven Kitchell was a career felon and drug dealer who was bringing heroin and other drugs into the Lehigh Valley from outside areas and profiting from their sale to our youth and others in our community,” Bethlehem Chief of Police Mark DiLuzio said. “The City of Bethlehem Police Department is committed to the arrest and prosecution of these drug dealers who are poisoning our young people with heroin, meth, crack cocaine, illegal prescription medications as well as other drugs.”
“As Chief of Police, I would like to thank all the Bethlehem detectives and officers, the Northampton County Drug Task Force officers, the DEA agents, Lower Saucon Police K-9 ‘Atos’ and the Office of the Northampton County District Attorney’s Office for all their excellent work and joint effort in bringing this investigation to a successful conclusion,” he added.
