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Joseph “Joey” Scott, of Middletown Township, was charged Thursday, Sept. 15 with several drug and weapons offenses and sent to the Bucks County Correctional Facility on $1 million bail, according to the Bucks County District Attorney's Office.
Local and state authorities recovered 10 handguns — including two illegally modified to be fully automatic — a bulletproof vest, ammunition, five stolen cars, crystal methamphetamine, and other drugs during the search of the 37-year-old man's Durham Road home and two storage units in Philadelphia.
An investigation into Scott was launched in August after two Philadelphia police officers received information that Scott was distributing crystal methamphetamine and fentanyl pills in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties.
Police were also warned that Scott drove various vehicles, possessed several firearms, and was known to always carry a concealed gun, they said.
Scott was apparently prone to violence, even being rumored to have shot several people, according to a criminal complaint.
As a result, police conducted surveillance and organized three drug buys where they saw Scott travel from his home on Durham Road to two storage units in Philadelphia, one on E. Ontario Street and the other on Pacific Street, where he stored crystal methamphetamine.
On Sept. 9, investigators captured aerial photos of his home that showed up to 18 vehicles there, they said. Days later, an informant told the Attorney General's office that Scott was storing stolen vehicles on the property.
On the day of the Thursday, Sept. 15 raid, authorities arrested Scott as he was getting out of an Audi.
Inside the car, police recovered a loaded Glock handgun with an automatic switch attached, a loaded American Tactical firearm, live ammunition, a bulletproof vest, $4,700 in cash and two clear sandwich bags containing 97.6 grams of crystal methamphetamine, two scales, 95 Suboxone strips, and a stolen license plate. Police also located the cellphone Scott used in the drug buys.
During the search of his home, officers found 22 doses of Buprenorphine, 47 suboxone pills, 108 tablets of methadone hydrochloride, and 126 blue pills believed to be fentanyl, they said.
In a Jaguar parked at the home, police located an untraceable ghost gun, a suppressor attachment, and a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun.
In addition, police seized five stolen vehicles on the property as well as numerous stolen catalytic converters.
At the Ontario Street storage unit, police recovered six firearms, five of them loaded.
The investigation was conducted by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, along with Middletown Township Police Department and the Philadelphia Police Department.
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