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Preliminary hearing continued again in Mon Valley fentanyl case

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ROSTRAVER – A preliminary hearing was continued for the third time Monday for a Donora man and woman who were charged in a U.S. Homeland Security investigation into the trafficking of fentanyl hydrochloride through the mail.

It appeared the delay involved plans to transfer the case against Christian Bennett Drennan and Tiffany Jean Beistel from state police to federal prosecutors, a court official said.

Beistel, 36, and Drennan, 37, both of 215 S. Mellon Ave., were arrested Sept. 6 in Rostraver Township, not long after they allegedly picked up a package they believed contained 19 grams of fentanyl that had been delivered to a garage in Forward Township.

The controlled delivery, which included assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, involved replacing the fentanyl in the package with something else, court records indicate.

Police also said a marijuana-growing operation and five pounds of that drug were discovered at 2700 Scenery Drive, the address where the package had been delivered. The garage is a business owned by Beistel, court records indicate.

The marijuana case was folded into the fentanyl criminal complaint, which indicates investigators seized from the garage 18 marijuana plants and five pounds of processed marijuana, court records show.

Investigators said they traced the package from the garage to a Sheetz on Fellsburg Road and Route 51, where it was opened in the vehicle Drennan and Beistel were using that day.

Police opted to arrest them in a traffic stop at a Shop ‘n Save a short distance away on Route 51. A search of their vehicle produced pills and syringes, court records allege.

Beistel and Drennan were charged with two counts each of drug possession with intent to deliver and one count each of drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The pair are free on $25,000 bonds set by District Judge Charles Christner, who continued the hearing Monday for six weeks.

Beistel’s attorney, Ronald Lee Chicka, could not be reached for comment Monday. It was not immediately known if Drennan had an attorney representing him in the case.

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