Uniontown man faces drug charges
A Uniontown man was arrested Tuesday after city police discovered that he allegedly had 4.5 ounces of suspected marijuana in his bedroom along with a Jennings 9-mm handgun with the serial number removed. Carmen Lee Birt, 37, of 208 Coolspring St. was arraigned before Uniontown District Justice Mark Blair on drug and firearms violation charges and sent to the Fayette County Prisoin in lieu of $50,000 unsecured bail.
According to police, they went to Birt’s home on a follow-up investigation and when Birt answered the door police smelled a “very strong odor of marijuana.”
Uniontown Detective Phillip W. Jones said police immediately read Birt his rights and asked him where the marijuana was.
Jones said Birt was cooperative and gave police consent to search the residence.
“He took us upstairs to the master bedroom and gave us a tin containing about 120 grams of suspected marijuana,” said Jones. “He also told police that he was holding a gun for a friend in his top dresser drawer.”
Jones said when police recovered the gun they discovered that the manufacturers serial numbers were removed.
Jones said police asked Birt if he had a criminal history and he said he was arrested for arson. “But,” said Jones, “when police ran Birt through NCIC they found he had multiple convictions for arson.
Jones said the marijuana was field tested by police and they received a positive result that it was a Scheduled 1 controlled substance.
Birt is scheduled to face Blair March 10 at 9 a.m. for a preliminary hearing.