ST. CLAIRSVILLE — A Wheeling man was arrested Tuesday and 40 grams of suspected crack cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl and PCP were seized presumably before they could be sold on the streets.

The Belmont County Major Crimes Unit and the sheriff’s criminal interdiction unit of K-9 officers conducted the operation and served a warrant at a St. Clairsville motel where the drugs were found in a room.

Linnie L. Hilliard, 39, of Wheeling, also known as “Pookie,” was found in the room and charged with five counts of trafficking in drugs, and three counts of possession of drugs, felonies of the first, third, fourth and fifth degree. He is currently in the Belmont County Jail. His bond was set at $75,000.

According to Belmont County Sheriff David Lucas, Hilliard had been on the Major Crimes Unit’s radar for some time and has long been suspected as a major player in drug trafficking operations. Lucas noted Hilliard’s criminal history, saying he had been arrested in Belmont County in 2008, 2010 and 2011 for crimes including having weapons under disability, domestic violence, parole violation and possession of drug abuse instruments.

“He has a very lengthy history of criminal activity and acts of violence,” Lucas said. “This is an individual that we’re all pleased to get off the street and behind bars.”

Lucas said Hilliard may have been on probation from another jurisdiction during his alleged activities Tuesday.

“It’s very evident what he was doing here,” Lucas said.

Lucas added that a report has been submitted to the Belmont County Prosecutor’s office and further charges may be filed later.

Lucas commended the work of Deputy Jason Schwartz, K-9 officer and member of the interdiction unit who served as lead investigator on the case, adding that Schwartz provided the information that led to the search warrant.

“Not only making an arrest on him, but you can see we also recovered a large variety of drugs. This was a very good case that Deputy Schwartz worked, put together, was able to obtain a warrant and put this person behind bars again,” Lucas said. “It was a very good day, and I know other cases are in the mix right now that happened yesterday too. We’re moving on them…It’s nothing but good hard law enforcement work of the criminal interdiction team, the Major Crime Unit, and our investigators in the back that put all this together into obtaining the search warrant… This kind of investigation, we never say we’re done. We still follow up with the leads and other people involved.”