NORRISTOWN — A Lower Providence Township man who used his home as the “base of operation” for his cocaine trafficking activities is headed to prison for up to a decade.
Thomas Jamar Allen, 47, of the 2900 block of 3rd Street in the Eagleville section of the township, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 5 to 10 years in a state correctional institution after he pleaded guilty to felony charges of possession with intent to deliver cocaine and possession of cocaine in connection with incidents that occurred in 2021.
Judge William R. Carpenter imposed the sentence.
Court documents indicate that county detectives received information from confidential sources in 2021 that Allen was trafficking cocaine in the Norristown area and that he had numerous drug customers.
Detectives began conducting surveillance of Allen as early as January 2021, and detectives observed what they concluded were numerous incidents during which Allen, either in his Jaguar or Chevrolet Silverado vehicles, parked in “clandestine” locations where customers would meet him to purchase drugs.
For example, between January and March 2021, detectives, on multiple occasions, observed Allen leave his Lower Providence residence and travel to parking lots of businesses along West Main Street in West Norriton Township where he was met by others who parked next to his vehicle for short periods of time or briefly entered the passenger side of Allen’s vehicle, according to court papers.
“Based on our training, knowledge and experience, your affiants know that meetings between a drug dealer and drug customer are commonly short in duration, only last a few minutes. This is because usually the only purpose of these meetings is to buy/sell a controlled substance and the participants want to leave the area before being discovered or identified by law enforcement,” detectives wrote in a criminal complaint.
On other occasions in 2021, detectives observed Allen travel to various residences or parking lots in West Norriton, Lower Providence, Worcester and Norristown and meet with alleged drug customers at those locations.
During the investigation, one confidential source told detectives they purchased cocaine from Allen more than thirty times, according to the arrest affidavit.
Throughout the time they conducted surveillance of Allen, detectives concluded Allen’s residence was his “base of operation.”
“This base of operation is utilized by traffickers to store their illegal narcotics, repackage their illegal narcotics and to store the U.S. currency derived from the sale of their illegal narcotics,” detectives explained.
On Sept. 26, 2021, detectives, armed with a warrant, searched Allen’s residence. During that search, detectives seized cocaine packaged for sale, marijuana, a digital scale, unused drug packaging materials and $1,825 in cash, according to the criminal complaint.
A charge of possessing drug paraphernalia was dismissed against Allen.
