NORRISTOWN, PA – Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Norristown’s Acting Police Chief Todd Dillon announce the arrest of Suleyka Santiago, 34, of Norristown, on charges related to drug trafficking and having her daughters sell drugs on her behalf.
The investigation into Santiago began after a confidential informant (CI) told detectives from the Montgomery County Detectives Narcotics Enforcement Team and Norristown Police that Santiago had taken over the drug trafficking enterprise of her boyfriend, Kenneth Scott of Norristown, who was arrested on Possession With Intent to Deliver and related charges in October. At that time, Scott was selling what has been confirmed by lab tests to be counterfeit Oxycodone pills comprised of fentanyl.
Scott remains in Montgomery County Correctional Facility on $100,000 cash bail. Sometime in June 2021, on a date that is being withheld to protect the identity of the CI, the CI arranged via Santiago’s cellphone to meet her to purchase 30 mg Oxycodone pills.
The CI was provided with cash to purchase the drugs, as well as searched before and after. The CI drove under surveillance by detectives to the meet location, where, at the direction of Santiago, the CI entered Santiago’s vehicle parked outside of an establishment in Montgomery County.
Inside the vehicle, Santiago’s 12-year-old and 14-year-old daughters sold the CI the drugs. One of the daughters took the money from the CI, and the other provided him/her with the pills. Santiago was inside the establishment at the time. The pills purchased by the CI were blue pills, stamped “M30” and are suspected of being fake Oxycodone pills. They are undergoing lab testing.
In a second instance, also during June 2021, the CI arranged for another purchase of 30 mg Oxycodone pills and this time conducted a hand-to-hand purchase of the pills with Santiago. The purchase occurred outside of the same vehicle being driven by Santiago. Santiago was arrested and charged with Possession With Intent to Deliver, Soliciting Minors to Traffic Drugs, Endangering the Welfare of Children, Criminal Use of a Communications Facility and related charges. She was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Andrea Duffy on Thursday, July 1, 2021, and bail was set at $100,000 cash. Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Garrett D. Page reviewed the bail amount on July 2, 2021 and reduced the bail amount to $10,000 unsecured, and the defendant was released on her own recognizance. A motion for reconsideration of bail was filed today by the District Attorney’s Office.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m., July 14, 2021 before Magisterial District Judge Margaret Hunsicker.