Cops: Couple arrested with suspected fentanyl in Rostraver Township

A Washington County couple jailed Friday after state police and agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security arrested them for having a package containing suspected fentanyl delivered through the mail.

Christian B. Drennan, 37, and Tiffany Jean Beistel, 36, both of Donora, were arrested Thursday in the parking lot of a Rostraver Township grocery store following a traffic stop shortly after the pair allegedly picked up a controlled delivery of 19 grams of suspected fentanyl. State police reported that the small package containing the drug was delivered to an address in nearby Elizabeth Township, Allegheny County, according to court documents.

State police reported that in conjunction with the traffic stop investigators also served a warrant at 2700 Scenery Drive in Elizabeth, where investigators confiscated 18 marijuana plants and five pounds of marijuana.

Trooper Joseph Timms alleges that after Drennan and Beistel picked up the mailed parcel, police followed the pair to a Sheetz on Route 51 at Fellsburg Road in Rostraver, where the package was opened in the vehicle, according to court documents. Police pulled over their vehicle a short distance away at a Shop ‘n Save, also on Route 51.

Beistel and Drennan were arraigned on two counts each of drug possession with intent to deliver and one count each of drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service assisted in the investigation, police said.

Rostraver District Judge Charles Christner ordered them held in the Westmoreland County Prison after they failed to post $25,000 bond each. Preliminary hearings are tentatively scheduled Sept. 17.

Paul Peirce is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at 724-850-2860, ppeirce@tribweb.com or via Twitter @ppeirce_trib.