Jury selection Tuesday in Cameron County drug case

The duo Confluence, featuring Nadine Dyksant-Miller and her mother, Barbara Dyskant, will perform two shows at the gazebo during Saturday at the Square, planned in Coudersport today (Saturday).

The case against a Pittsburgh drug dealer apprehended in Emporium last year will move closer to trial Tuesday when a jury is selected to hear the case.

Once the jury is selected a trial date will be set for Taru Sandrell Farmer, 31, of Pittsburgh who was charged with two counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance with Intent to Deliver, two counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance and one count of Possession of Drug Paraphernalia after police executed a warrant for his arrest here last year and found a host of controlled substances.

According to the affadavit of probable cause filed in District Justice Al Brown's office, police found Farmer in a room at the Prospect Motel, located about a half mile north of Emporium on PA Route 155. The warrant had been issued by District Justice Donald Wilheim after Farmer failed to appear in court for earlier drug charges. Farmer was also wanted by the St. Mary's Police Department.

Local troopers and a member of the state police Vice and Narcotics Unit executed the warrant.

Farmer, who first identified himself as Charles Dawson, was found to be in possession of suspected heroin, crack cocaine and marijuana, as well as drug paraphernalia.

After a search warrant for Farmer's room was obtained, police found the following items, according to the affadavit: 21 bags of suspected heroin, one bag containing approximately 1/4 ounce of suspected crack cocaine, one bag of an unspecified amount of suspected marijuana, a set of digital scales, a package of Zig Zag tobacco rolling papers, and a "kit" containing items commonly used to inject heroin (four syringes, a bottle of clear fluid, and a tourniquet). Farmer also had $415 cash on him.

Farmer has been in the custody of Elk County Prison awaiting his trial since July 13, 2006. His bail was set at $50,000 but was never posted.