When members of the Lycoming County Drug Task Force moved in to arrest suspected drug dealer Joe Cephus Wright at his Park Avenue home on Tuesday night, they got an added bonus.
There on Wright's front porch was 68-year-old Ruby Mae Short, who was wanted for allegedly selling crack cocaine to a confidential informant in the 1200 block of Vine Avenue in mid-December, city police said.
Task force members said they were not expecting to see Short at the home at 808 Park Ave. when they took Wright, 53, into custody about 7 p.m. shortly after he allegedly sold crack cocaine to an informant.
The alleged sale occurred at Wright's home, a property that has been a nuisance to neighbors and where city police have reportedly made at least a half dozen drug arrests in the past year alone, one officer said.
"The drug dealers would bring their supply to the house and it would be sold quickly" on the street, the officer said.
Wright and Short, whose last known address was of the 1500 block of Mount Carmel Street, were both arraigned before District Judge James H. Sortman on charges of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and delivery of a controlled substance. Wright was committed to the Lycoming County Prison in lieu of $20,000 bail while Short was jailed in lieu of $15,000 bail.
