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More drug charges filed against suspect in high-speed chase

More drug charges have been lodged against the 25-year-old State College woman who took state police on a brief high-speed pursuit earlier this month after stealing an unmarked police cruiser while in custody.

Lycoming County Prison inmate Janica R. Germello has been been arraigned on two additional sets of charges, including possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance after city police discovered 13 bags of heroin in her purse in the 700 block of Railway Street on the night of May 16.

She was stopped by an officer on Railway Street after bolting from a crash at nearby Sherman and Tucker streets, police said. She was a passenger in a vehicle involved in the accident and later admitted she ran because she had heroin in her purse, police were told.

Germello admitted that she had planned to deliver five of the bags to a friend, police said. In this case, she also was charged with possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia.

In the second case, Germello has been charged with summary shoplifting and possession of drug paraphernalia after she was caught allegedly trying to flee with $19 worth of merchandise from Wegman’s, 201 William St. on Aug. 1, police said.

While she got away, she left behind her purse and in it officers discovered a hypodermic needle containing heroin, court records state.

Following her arraignment last week before District Judge Allen P. Page, Germello was recommitted in lieu of an additional $35,000 bail.

She has been incarcerated since Sept. 7 when she stole a police cruiser on Interstate 180 in the city and drove it, handcuffed, to the area of Washington Boulevard and Shiffler Avenue, where she crashed into a tree after being hit by a cruiser that was pursuing her, state police said.

At that time, Germello had another 10 bags of heroin in her purse, police said. She is jailed in lieu of $90,000 on charges stemming from this incident.

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