Police seize 13K bags of heroin in Troy Hill

North Side man will face federal charges

A North Side man will face federal drug trafficking charges after “extensive” surveillance of him revealed he was allegedly hiding large amounts of heroin and other drugs in a Troy Hill basement and garage.

Aaron Gale, 26, who has a history of drug and firearms charges, was arrested Thursday when local and federal agents surrounded him behind a house in the 1900 block of Lowrie Street, according to a criminal complaint.

Detectives had been monitoring the property after receiving “multiple complaints from community members who suspected that drugs were being trafficked out of this residence,” police said.

The exact duration of the investigation was not specified in the complaint, but the document states that Gale “was often seen” accessing an underground area through what appeared to be BILCO-style doors and then securing the entrance to that area afterward. He also often disappeared behind the house and reappeared a short time later, the complaint said.

The investigation culminated just before 11 a.m. Thursday when detectives were ready to execute a search warrant. While approaching the house, they “noticed a target vehicle” — a Chevy Malibu with Gale in the driver’s seat — driving directly behind them, according to the complaint.

Detectives blocked the car in the alley behind the house, and Gale was arrested on site. Detectives entered the underground area — covered by plywood “made secure by a cinderblock on top of it” — and found 80 bricks of heroin labeled “Pablo Escobar/Al Capone,” according to the complaint.

Upon searching a rear garage, detectives found a loaded Sig

Sauer 9 millimeter pistol and an even larger amount of heroin hidden in a wall behind a piece of plywood and labeled “gambino/El Chapa Guzman,” according to the complaint.

Gale, a convicted felon, is not legally allowed to possess a weapon.

In total, police found 260 bricks (or 13,000 stamp bags) of heroin, plus Percocet pills, MDMA (or ecstasy) and a large amount of cash, according to the complaint.

A person living at the address, identified as Harmony Bey, said that Gale is her “cousin’s boyfriend” and that despite being told not to return, he still accesses the basement of the home, according to the complaint.

A search of a second location on the North Side yielded additional heroin and “a large bag of cocaine,” according to Pittsburgh police.

Gale is scheduled for a preliminary hearing before U.S. District Judge Lisa Lenihan on Jan. 22.