Pottstown drug dealer taken down by Victoria’s Secret purse

An alleged Pottstown drug dealer was sentenced to five to 10 years Monday for possession with intent to deliver cocaine and property theft, The Times Herald reported. The smoking gun? A Victoria’s Secret purse with a pink bow.

Earl Steven Murph, 53, was pulled over in September of 2009 because his car matched the description of a vehicle seen fleeing the scene of a purse snatching at a local Walmart, according to the report.

Murph consented to a search and police found the brown Victoria’s Secret purse with a small pink bow in his rear seat. After the victim of the theft positively identified the handbag, Murph was placed into a patrol car.

But he didn’t enter empty-handed. Officers soon found a bundle of 25 glassine bags and containers in the patrol car’s rear floorboard under Murph’s feet. Testing reportedly confirmed they contained cocaine.

Either Murph had some Copperfield-level skills when it came to making evidence disappear or someone was having an off day when it came to the frisking, but police recovered a 26th bag of cocaine inside the borough’s jail cell when they noticed Murph attempting to chew it up.

The man pleaded guilty to all charges and the judge recommended he serve his time in a state correctional institute with a drug treatment program, the paper reported.