Three 16-year-old boys sold cocaine to an undercover officer with an Altoona woman acting as a go-between, city police said.
The three boys were taken into custody Monday night after exchanging $450 for 4.5 grams of cocaine at 11th Street and 21st Avenue, Altoona police Sgt. Detective Troy Johannides said Tuesday. Johannides said the original deal was for 5 grams for $500 but when the officer met with the boys, they wanted $500 for 4.5 grams.
The woman who allegedly set up the cocaine deal, Casey D. Mort, 24, of 1200 14th Ave. Apt. 3, was arrested within a half hour. She was charged with her role in that deal and another she allegedly brokered Monday night between police and two Altoona men looking to sell their prescription pills.
Brandon S. Ford, 20, of Altoona and Isaac B. McGinnis, 23, who has no current address, were also arrested Monday night along with Mort after police, through an undercover officer and an informant, bought 20 pills each of Percocet and morphine for $200.
Police said Mort even helped confirm for them that the drugs were what the two men claimed by looking the pill markings up on the Internet with her phone. She was supposed to be paid $10 for setting up the deal, but she complained to the undercover officer that McGinnis only gave her $20 - money he already owed her, according to court records.
Police moved to arrest the juveniles, who had also allegedly sold the undercover officer marijuana on Saturday, Johannides said.
Before her arrest, Mort complained the three juveniles never paid her for brokering the marijuana or cocaine deals. The $20 McGinnis gave to Mort was confiscated, court documents state.
The teenagers were placed in juvenile detention on Blair County juvenile probation detainers.
Mort, Ford and McGinnis were arraigned on drug charges early Tuesday by Magisterial District Fred B. Miller and lodged in Blair County Prison. Mort's bail is a total of $75,000 cash on two cases, and Miller set bail for Ford at $75,000 cash and $50,000 cash for McGinnis.
Preliminary hearings are slated for Nov. 28 at Central Court.
Mirror Staff Writer Greg Bock is at 946-7458.
