A Cranberry man is facing charges in two separate cases in which he is accused of having drugs in Oil City and then breaking into an apartment the next day in Franklin and stealing a phone.
Oil City police said in a criminal complaint they were called Aug. 16 to River and Willow streets for a suspicious vehicle that they followed and eventually stopped near the bottom of Siverly Avenue.
Officers identified the driver of the vehicle as a boy with a learners permit and noted that Joel Shreffler, 19, and two more boys were in the back seat of the vehicle, the complaint said.
The boys said Shreffler told them he had robbed a man on the bike trail for all the drugs he had, according to the complaint.
One of the boys said that when the vehicle was pulling off the road, Shreffler “shoved a scale and a couple of vapes in his pocket” and tried to shove a bag of drugs between his legs, telling him to hid those things, the complaint said.
While searching the vehicle, police found a backpack in the area where Shreffler had been sitting that contained multiple containers of suspected marijuana and a baggie containing three smaller baggies of suspected mushrooms, as well as drug paraphernalia, according to the complaint.
The next day, Franklin police were called to Arbor Circle for a report of a stolen cell phone, Franklin police said in a criminal compliant.
Before the person in the apartment could come downstairs and open the door, Shreffler entered the apartment, took the person’s cell phone and left on foot, according to the complaint.
Police located Shreffler a short time later at Red Express where an employee said he had come in talking about how he had stolen the cell phone, the complaint said.
In the Oil City incident, Shreffler has been charged with two felony counts of manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver as well as two misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance, three misdemeanor counts of corruption of minors and one misdemeanor count of use/possession of drug paraphernalia.
In the Franklin incident, Shreffler has been charged with felony counts of burglary and criminal trespass as well as a misdemeanor count of theft by unlawful taking of movable property.
Preliminary hearings in both cases have been scheduled Wednesday in Venango County Central Court.
Shreffler is also facing other misdemeanor charges of possession of a controlled substance and use/possession of drug paraphernalia and a summary count of public drunkenness from another incident that occurred Aug. 10 in Oil City.
In that case, his preliminary hearing is scheduled Sept. 29 in Central Court.
