Monroeville pretzel shop owner accused of dealing pills
The owner of a Monroeville pretzel shop allegedly dealt hundreds of dollars worth of pills through his drive-thru window, including to a fellow businessman who said he overdosed on the pills, according to charges filed this week.
The fellow business owner told police he has a $600-a-day pill habit filled by Philly Pretzel Factory owner Brian Schlagel. The man told police that’s his problem, though, and stressed that Mr.
Schlagel “is a good guy,” according to the criminal complaint.
Mr. Schlagel, 45, is charged with possession with intent to deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia, tampering with evidence and dealing in the proceeds of illegal activity.
Investigators wrote that Mr. Schlagel was using the pretzel shop’s finances to buy prescription pills in bulk from other drug users, which he then resold for a profit.
Monroeville police got a tip in July that Mr. Schlagel was dealing through his drive-thru, at which point police and Drug Enforcement agents set up surveillance on the pretzel shop and Mr. Schlagel’s Murrysville home, according to the complaint. They recorded numerous alleged instances of Mr. Schlagel selling pills at both locations.
Both the businessman and another witness told police Mr. Schlagel was a pill dealer, with the latter noting to police Mr. Schlagel was “the biggest pill dealer in Export,” according to the complaint.
The investigation culminated Thursday during all-morning surveillance on Mr. Schlagel’s home, police wrote.
Officers and agents followed him from his home on Ridgemont Court first to a parking lot near the abandoned Gander Mountain store on Old William Penn Highway and then to the Spitzer Toyota parking lot.
There, police said, he got into the passenger’s seat of another man’s car, where Mr. Schlagel allegedly exchanged roughly $14,400 for 240 oxycodone pills. Upon noticing police, Mr. Schlagel allegedly tried to hide the pill bottles and stuffed an envelope of money into the center console of the man’s car.
In addition to the $14,000 he’d paid the man for the pills, police recovered $11,000 in cash from the center console and $2,000 Mr. Schlagel still had on him.
Mr. Schlagel was arraigned early Friday morning in front of District Judge Thomas S. Brletic, who set bail at $100,000.
Court records did not list an attorney. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 28.