New Kensington police say man charged after selling crack cocaine to informant

A New Kensington police detective filed multiple felony drug charges against a Tarentum man after an informant bought drugs from him, according to authorities.

Brian Lamont Kellum, 43, of the 500 block of Main Street, was charged with two felony counts of possession of drugs with the intent to deliver, a felony count of criminal use of a communications facility and two counts of drug possession.

Kellum is being held in the Allegheny County Jail after failing to post a $25,000 cash bond, according to court records.

He faces a preliminary hearing before District Judge Frank Pallone Jr. on Feb. 17.

Police wrote in the criminal complaint filed on the case that an informant was given marked bills Sept. 30 to buy drugs from Kellum.

The informant contacted Kellum by cellphone and picked him up at an undisclosed location in New Kensington where the cash was exchanged for “a quantity of crack cocaine that was recovered by investigators,” according to the arrest papers.

The informant was searched prior to the encounter with Kellum and afterward to make sure he did not have other drugs in his possession, police said.

Court records show Kellum is awaiting trial in Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court on a felony count of receiving stolen property, as well as drug possession, filed by New Kensington police in August 2020.