State Police working with Blairsville Borough Police apprehended a fugitive Pittsburgh woman just before eleven o’clock Sunday morning at a home in Blairsville.
26-year-old Tamara Newland was wanted in Allegheny County to answer charges in two criminal cases, one a burglary case from 2016 and the other a theft case from 2015. She jumped bail on those cases in March of this year.
Police received information that Newland was at the home at 216 East Market Street in Blairsville yesterday. They took her into custody without incident, and they found an empty stamp bag in the home. While they were still there, Newland handed a plastic bag to an acquaintance, supposedly with items for the care of her two-month-old son, who was also in the home. She gave consent to the police to search the bag and a pillow case as the acquaintance was preparing to put them into a vehicle. They found a stolen 9-millimeter pistol, suspected crack cocaine and heroin, and some money.
On Monday morning, investigators returned to the home armed with a search warrant, and discovered additional evidence related to recent thefts from vehicles that had been the subject of investigations by Blairsville police.
Newland was arraigned on new charges of possession with intent to deliver, and single counts of receiving stolen property, possession of a controlled substance and of drug paraphernalia. In addition to her Allegheny County charges, she has an active case from last October in Indiana County, where she is charged with three counts of false identification to police. She’s in the Indiana County Jail with bond set at $50,000 and a hearing scheduled for November 5th.
Police have not said yet whether other suspects will be charged.
