Prison time for cocaine felonies

Norristown man faces maximum 10 years for trafficking, possession

NORRISTOWN » A Norristown man is on his way to prison for up to a decade on charges he was trafficking cocaine out of his George Street residence.

Francisco Junior Serrano, 56, of the 800 block of George Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 54 months to 10 years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of possession with intent to deliver cocaine in connection with a July 2016 incident. The sentence was imposed by Judge Steve T. O’Neill.

Court documents indicate an investigation began on July 12, 2016, when Norristown detectives obtained a warrant to search Serrano’s George Street residence. That search was carried out on July 13, court papers indicate.

During the search, detectives found 30 packaged bags of cocaine inside a box addressed to Serrano as well as “three large

chunks of cocaine” inside sandwich-type bags and a sandwich bag containing 135 packaged bags of cocaine, according to the criminal complaint. Authorities also seized a large number of packaging materials, two scales, a plate containing cocaine residue and five packaged bags of suspected marijuana, according to the arrest affidavit. The substances seized tested positive for cocaine and marijuana, detectives alleged.

When Serrano was interviewed by detectives he “admitted to being the possessor of all the located cocaine and packaging,” according to court documents. With the charges, detectives alleged the cocaine that was recovered from the George Street residence was possessed with the intent to deliver.

Other charges of possessing cocaine and marijuana and possessing drug paraphernalia were dismissed against Serrano in exchange for his guilty plea to the felony drug trafficking charge.