Police get 2 for 1 with mother-daughter drug bust

By Patrick Lester

The Morning Call

March 06, 2008

A woman who told police her daughter stole from her to support a drug habit was caught with a stash of her own drugs when a police officer visited her house to investigate the theft, police said.

Doreen A. McConnell Spolar, 50, of 121 Midway Road, Hilltown Township, was charged on Friday with drug possession. Police said she had a half-pound of marijuana in her bedroom closet during the Jan. 11 visit, according to a complaint filed at District Court in New Britain .

The daughter -- Chelsea D. Spolar, 24, of 2430 Three Mile Run Road, East Rockhill Township -- was charged with possession of a small amount of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, police said.

Hilltown police said their investigation began when Doreen Spolar contacted them Jan. 11, claiming $400 was stolen from her house. She told police she suspected her daughter took the money to support a drug habit, according to a police news release.

When officer Louis Bell arrived at the Midway Road house, Doreen Spolar led him to a third-floor bedroom where Bell smelled marijuana and saw Chelsea Spolar holding a water pipe used to smoke the drug, according to the complaint.

Bell also found a plastic container with marijuana and took Chelsea Spolar into custody for possession of drug paraphernalia and what investigators later determined was less than a gram of marijuana, the complaint says.

During her conversation with Bell, Chelsea Spolar said her mother had marijuana stored in her bedroom closet.

After Doreen Spolar told Bell to ''go check'' her closet, she led him to a safe where a small amount of marijuana was kept, as well as a suitcase holding nearly a half-pound of the drug, the complaint said.

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