Woman lands in jail
Four handguns — two loaded and one stolen — were seized from a woman's backpack in a car Butler police stopped Tuesday night.
But that's not all officers found. In her purse, police said, were more than two dozen bags of suspected heroin along with suspected crack cocaine, a scale and hundreds of dollars.
The findings landed the owner, Lisa M. Wilbert, 31, of Center Township, who also was wanted on two unrelated warrants, in the Butler County Prison on $100,000 bail.
City officers were looking for Wilbert shortly after 11 p.m. when they spotted her car leaving an apartment complex on the city's north side.
Butler police already had an arrest warrant for the suspect and the sheriff's office had their own bench warrant for her.
Wilbert was riding in the back seat of the car that officers pulled over in the 400 block of North Washington Street, and at first she refused to identify herself, said police Lt. John Johnson.
While at the car, officers also noticed the defendant reaching for a backpack that was on the seat next to her, police said.
She eventually gave her name and was immediately arrested on the warrants. She resisted but subsequently was placed in handcuffs and seated in back of a patrol car.
Back at Wilbert's car, Johnson said, he retrieved the woman's backpack and purse.
A search of the backpack at the station revealed four guns — a pair of loaded .22-caliber pistols, a .357-caliber revolver and a .38 special.
One of the guns, a Beretta .22-caliber, was listed as stolen in the National Crime Information Center database, according to court documents.
A check of Wilbert's purse, Johnson said, turned up 25 stamp bags and a number of additional empty bags of suspected heroin, a rock of suspected crack, several syringes and crack pipes, a digital scale and $254.
District Judge Wayne Seibel on Wednesday arraigned Wilbert on felony charges of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and receiving stolen property.
She also was arraigned on four counts of carrying a concealed firearm without a license, two counts of possession of a controlled substance and charges of resisting arrest and possession of drug paraphernalia, all misdemeanors.
Additionally, Seibel arraigned the defendant on charges stemming from the arrest warrant issued to Butler police in February.
In that case, officers Feb. 1 nabbed Wilbert who was reportedly seen visiting an alleged drug house. Police stopped her in the 300 block of Franklin Street where they learned there was a bench warrant out for her, too.
She briefly fended off an officer's efforts to arrest her, before being handcuffed.
Police searched her purse, documents said, and found a makeup case containing crack, a plastic bag filled with assorted pills, a syringe, drug-cooking spoon and other contraband.
She is charged in that case with resisting arrest, and possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia.
The bench warrant for Wilbert, court records showed, was issued Friday after Wilbert failed to appear for a hearing in a January burglary case.