A second person has been charged with drug and gun-related offenses in connection with a traffic stop by Upper Burrell police in late December.
Shane Thomas Buccieri, 23, of Sixth Avenue in Tarentum is charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance and a count of illegal possession of a firearm. He also was issued a citation for having an expired vehicle registration.
Buccieri faces a preliminary hearing on the charges before District Judge Cheryl Peck Yakopec on Feb. 8.
Police previously charged Taylor Stringer, 22, of Garden City Drive, Monroeville, with felony counts of drug possession and carrying a gun without a permit. She also was accused of careless driving and driving while intoxicated in connection with the Dec. 23 traffic stop along Greensburg Road.
Investigators say Buccieri was a passenger in the Jeep that Stringer was driving when an officer pulled her over for going 38 mph in a posted 55 mph zone and nearly hitting a guardrail twice as the vehicle veered out of its lane, according to the criminal complaint filed on the incident.
The drug charges were filed against Stringer and Buccieri after an officer smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle when it was stopped, the complaint said.
Police impounded the vehicle and obtained a search warrant after Buccieri showed an officer a red plastic cup in the console that contained a partially smoked marijuana blunt, according to the complaint.
While searching the Jeep, police found the cup with the blunt inside along with two tablets of prescription drugs used to treat anxiety in Stringer’s wallet, the complaint said.
A purse on the floor of the backseat had 46 grams of marijuana along with a prescription bottle with another person’s name on the label, according to the complaint.
The bottle contained an unknown liquid and was marked Trazadone, which is an antidepressant and sedative, police said.
Officers obtained a second search warrant after a handgun was spotted partially hidden under the passenger seat, the complaint said.
A 9 mm semiautomatic handgun with one round of ammo loaded in the chamber was confiscated during the second search, according to the complaint.
