Man Botched Drug Sting, Police Say

An Easton man is accused of deliberately blocking the view of undercover police officers taking video of a drug deal on the 200 block of W. St. Joseph Street in August, according to court papers.

Bradley S. Deats, 23, of 211 W. St. Joseph St. was arraigned on obstructing administration of law and other counts on Monday. The court record did not explain the five-month lag between incident and arraignment.

According to the arrest warrant, Easton Det. Anthony Arredondo was conducting surveillance of a controlled drug buy at 3:30 p.m. Aug. 14 when Deats appeared near the passenger side window of his unmarked police vehicle.

Then, according to the affidavit:

• Deats began yelling at Arredondo: “Yo, why the f… you video taping? Why you harassing people on my block? This is my block.” Deats then told Arredondo he wasn’t allowed to be parked on “his block.”
• The affidavit goes on: “At this time, Deats was standing directly next to my window with his arms crossed, staring at me. Deats said to me: ‘I’m gonna call the cops, unless you is the cops. Oh yeah, you two familiar faces. You is the cops.’
• “Deats then said: ‘OK, you want to film something, film this.’ Deats then stepped in front of my vehicle and lifted up his shirt while blocking my view of the controlled purchase.
• “During this entire encounter, I ordered Deats to desist his actions several times. Deats ignored all of my commands and was subsequently arrested.”
• Deats was then taken to Easton Police headquarters for processing. But during transport, Deats attempted to dispose of a crack pipe in his possession. “It appeared that Deats stepped on the pipe and attempted to kick it under the partition of his vehicle.
• “While at the station, Deats later apologized for his actions and said that he had been drinking.”

In addition to obstruction of administration of law, Deats was also charged with tampering with evidence, possession of drug paraphernalia and disorderly conduct.

He was arraigned before District Judge James Narlesky of Hanover Township and committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $3,500 bail.