Channel 11 Exclusive: Prosecutors present photos of drugs seized during raid of local bar

The case against the owner of a New Brighton restaurant accused of selling cocaine from the establishment will head to trial.

Raed “Ron” Jaber faced a judge Friday for his preliminary hearing, where prosecutors presented photographic evidence of cocaine and suspected anabolic steroids that police removed from the Fifth Avenue Taphouse and a nearby home Jaber owns.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE >>> Owner of Beaver County restaurant charged with drug crimes after raid

Channel 11’s Andrew Havranek was the only reporter in the courtroom for Friday’s hearing.

Before his hearing, Jaber stayed silent, and his attorney declined to comment on the charges he faces for allegedly selling cocaine from Fifth Avenue Taphouse.

“Were you selling cocaine from the restaurant?” Havranek asked Jaber.

“Sir, sir, we’re on our way to a hearing,” Al Lindsay, Jaber’s attorney, responded. “We’re not here to make statements.”

During that hearing, prosecutors said police started investigating Jaber in December 2025.

In the months leading up to the raid in September, there were seven undercover drug buys.

“They all occurred during the normal hours of operation with customers in the bar,” said Beaver County District Attorney Nate Bible.

Prosecutors also showed the court photographs of drugs that were seized from the bar and the nearby home Jaber owns.

Twelve small baggies of cocaine, a digital scale, and suspected steroids were seized from Jaber’s office at the bar.

A photo from inside the home, police said, contains the nearly 3.5 ounces of cocaine seized there.

They also say they found a powder used as a “cutting agent” to expand the amount of cocaine products Jaber was allegedly selling.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL PHOTOS OF EVIDENCE PRESENTED IN COURT ON FRIDAY.

That led to a new manufacturing charge being filed against Jaber.

Jaber’s attorney said during the hearing and in an interview with Channel 11 after the hearing that the state didn’t prove the substance taken from Fifth Avenue Taphouse or the home was cocaine.

“I have never had a preliminary hearing where they didn’t show a lab test showing what it was,” Lindsay said.

But according to the District Attorney and court paperwork, that substance was field tested and was positive for cocaine at the scene. It’s now waiting to be processed at the state crime lab.

“We do have that initial test that shows, yes, this is positive for cocaine,” Bible said. “But down the road for any other more formal hearing that we would need, we’ll have those actual drug results back.”

Jaber’s attorney also said he felt the state did not prove during Friday’s hearing Jaber was the one involved in any sort of drug activity.

“A lot of people obviously had access,” Lindsay said. “You’re talking about this business is where all kinds of people had access, and you’re talking about that apartment, when we don’t know who had access. It wasn’t locked, apparently.”

During the trial, prosecutors showed photographic evidence of mail and a birthday gift with Jaber’s name inside the home, and the TV screen showing Netflix logged into Jaber’s account.

Jaber’s trial is currently scheduled for March.

Bible said his office is still in the process of having the bar shut down, but said it will likely remain open as it works its way through the court.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE >>> Beaver County DA plans to shut down restaurant, bar after large drug raid

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