SHAMOKIN - One of the men named in a grand jury indictment as a supplier to several dealers arrested in a September drug bust was charged with more offenses Thursday.
Darryl L. Kashner, 28, currently an inmate at the Northumberland County Prison where he awaits trial on other drug charges, was arraigned Thursday before Magisterial District Judge John Gembic III, of Shamokin, on two counts each of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and criminal conspiracy.
He was recommitted to Northumberland County Prison on $5,000 cash bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 7 before Gembic.
According to court documents filed jointly by Shamokin City Police Cpl, Bryan Primerano and state Attorney General agent David Jordan, Kashner was working with a drug distribution ring leader, Juan Alvarez, from the Dominican Republic but currently incarcerated in a federal prison in Lackawanna County, to bring narcotics from the Hazleton area into Northumberland County from 2009 to 2012.
Among the documents was a statewide grand jury presentment in which Kashner testified he purchased cocaine and heroin from Alvarez or one of his associates more than 50 times.
Kashner said his average purchase was 20 to 30 grams of cocaine, six or seven grams of crack cocaine and up to a few bundles of heroin.
Law enforcement agents testified to the grand jury that informants under their control made four purchases of cocaine between April and August 2012. Twice, Kashner allegedly sold a gram of cocaine, and sold an eighth of an ounce, and 10 grams of cocaine.
On Aug. 28, 2012, he sold 70 bags of heroin to an informant for $1,000 and when he was arrested later that day, he was found in possession of 50 grams of cocaine and 450 bags of heroin. An addition 10 grams of cocaine was found at his Shamokin residence.
The new charges represent the 13th drug case that Kashner currently has pending in the Northumberland County court system. The other cases are awaiting a date for trial. A pre-trial conference is scheduled for Jan. 6.