Whitaker, PA (PPP)—32-year-old Dominique Spence Morris, of Whitaker, was taken into custody after police obtained a narcotics search warrant for the residence where he was staying.

The Allegheny County Police Drug Task Force executed the warrant on March 16, 2023 and found Morris in his bedroom. During the search, police found a firearm, keys for a rental car, and suspected Fentanyl/heroin in a duffel bag in the detached garage. They also found cash, cellular phones, and other items in another bedroom of the residence.

Morris’ uncle provided verbal consent to search Morris’ Maserati in the garage, where police found three additional cellular phones in the center console.

Police towed a white Ford Escape rental car parked in a lot across from the residence back to their headquarters. Upon searching the vehicle, police found 67 bricks and 2 bundles of Fentanyl/heroin.

Name: Dominique Spence Morris
Gender: Male
Age: 32

Agency: Allegheny County Police Department

Court: Magisterial District Court 05-2-14
Docket Number: MJ-05214-CR-0000171-2023
Date Filed: March 16, 2023

Bail: $5,000
Confinement: Allegheny County Jail
Confinement Reason: Unable to post bail. Note: bail was posted the same day by Liberty Bail Bonds.

Criminal Charges

1. Possession with intent to deliver, Felony
2. Prohibited acts – possession, Misdemeanor

Affidavit of Probable Cause
On Wednesday, August 31, 2022, I, Detective Mikelonis, obtained a narcotics search warrant signed by the Honorable Judge Kelley Bigley, Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, for the residence of ██████████████, Whitaker, PA 15120, and the occupants of the residence and allegedly selling Fentanyl/heroin. On Thursday, September 1, 2022, at approximately 6:05 a.m., Sgt. Kaspryszyn, Detectives Bloom, Cecotti, Ernst, Hasek, McGann, Peck, Stegena, Sywyj, Tuzikow, Ziskind. and I of the Allegheny County Police Drug Task Force (HIDTA) met to serve the search warrant. All assigned personnel were wearing tactical vests, which had the words “POLICE” visibly displayed on the front and back and were equipped with body cameras.

We proceeded to the location and knocked and announced at the side door of the residence. We gave numerous commands of, “Police, search warrant.” Sgt. Kaspryszyn activated his emergency lights and siren. After waiting a reasonable amount of time, Detective Sywyj breached the side door of the residence, and we made entry. It should be noted the home had multiple cameras with motion detectors mounted on the exterior of the residence: Specifically, there were multiple cameras mounted near the side door and the occupants would have been aware of our presence prior to knocking.

███████ was located in his bedroom and was detained and advised of the search warrant. ███████ had a television mounted right in front of his bed and had multiple camera views displayed on the screen, including the side door we made entry through. ███████ was escorted onto the front porch where I repositioned his handcuffs in front of him, double locked the cuffs and checked for a proper fit. ███████’s nephew who was identified as Dominique Morris was located in another bedroom and detained. Morris was escorted into the living room area.

A search of Morris’ bedroom yielded one cellular phone, keys for a white Ford Escape Avis rental car and a firearm. A search of ███████’s bedroom yielded $10,000.00 in United States currency, two cellular phones and one Lorex DVR unit. In addition, six rubber-banded bundles of white glassine stamp bags each containing suspected Fentanyl/heroin were recovered from a duffel bag in the detached garage. ███████ provided verbal consent to search his Maserati in the garage and three additional cellular phones were recovered from the center console.

Morris stated he lived with ███████ and ███████ also stated Morris lived with him. I advised Morris I had observed him drive the white Ford Escape and knew he parked the vehicle in the parking lot across from the ██████████████ Housing Community. I asked Morris for consent to search the vehicle and he stated he couldn’t do that because his mother rented the vehicle. I asked Morris why he just wouldn’t park the vehicle at the residence, and he stated he didn’t want to bring attention to the house by parking another vehicle there. It should be noted ███████ only had one vehicle parked at the residence and it was in his garage. ███████ also has a large garage on his property and a very large driveway that wraps around to the rear of his residence. There was more than ample room to park numerous vehicles on ███████’s property or in his garage. Morris was extremely nervous when I spoke to him about the vehicle and continued to lick his lips and had a white substance forming on his lips as if he had a dry mouth.

The parking lot Morris parked at isn’t even remotely close to ███████’s residence. This behavior based upon my training and experience is consistent with Morris distancing himself from the vehicle and ███████’s residence to avoid being detected by law enforcement. Detective Stegena left ███████’s residence and located the vehicle in the same parking lot. The vehicle was towed back to Allegheny County Police Headquarters by McGann & Chester. I secured a separate search warrant for the vehicle. A search of the vehicle yielded 67 bricks and 2 bundles of Fentanyl/heroin, one receipt for the North Versailles Walmart and one Fiji water bottle. The vehicle was processed by Scientist ███████ from the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office for prints and DNA. Scientist Wolfe also took custody of the narcotics and water bottle and transported the items to the Allegheny County Crime Lab.

The recovered narcotics were tested by Allegheny County Crime Lab Drug Chemistry Section under lab number 22LABO5430 and tested positive for Fentanyl In addition, multiple prints were lifted from the packaging of the recovered narcotics recovered from Morris’ trunk by the Allegheny County Crime Lab Latent Prints Section. Specifically, one of the lifted prints were matched to the left middle finger of Morris. With the assistance of Chief Locke of the North Versailles Police Department the recovered Walmart receipt dated August 31, 2022, was compared to surveillance video taken at Walmart. The surveillance video indicated Morris checked out at a register on August 31, 2022, and purchased a set of bed sheets, which matched the receipt. Based upon the above facts and circumstances, I request that an arrest warrant be issued for Dominique Morris for the offenses outlined within this criminal complaint.