A Harrisburg man who served a state prison sentence following an undercover drug bust in 2006 is again accused of dealing cocaine.
Rufus Hudson, now 36, led area police officers on a high-speed chase from Shamokin to Den-Mar Gardens seven years ago when he was arrested at gunpoint. His arrest late Wednesday afternoon near Wal-Mart Supercenter in Coal Township was much more quiet.
Hudson is jailed in Northumberland County Prison, Sunbury, following an undercover drug buy in the retailer's parking lot along Route 61. His bail was set at $20,000 following his arraignment before Magisterial District Judge John Gembic III, Shamokin.
Coal Township Detective Jeff Brennan charged Hudson with three felony counts of manufacture, delivery or possession of a controlled substance and one felony count of criminal use of a communication facility.
Shamokin Cpl. Bryan Primerano filed additional drug counts stemming from controlled drug buys using a confidential informant on both Feb. 13 and Feb. 23 in the city. The informant purchased one-half gram of cocaine for $50 on both occasions, police say.
Hudson faces two felony counts each of delivery of cocaine, possession with intent to deliver cocaine and criminal use of a communication facility in the Shamokin cases.
In March 2007, he was sentenced in county court to serve four to eight years on various drug charges stemming from his February 2006 arrest that came from his sale of $975 of cocaine to an undercover officer.
The chase began after the sale at a convenience store parking lot at Race and Pearl streets when Hudson noticed additional police officers beginning to converge on the scene. He drove into a Shamokin police cruiser, injuring now retired Cpl. Robert Wolfe, before fleeing through several communities. He was apprehended after about 30 minutes as he attempted to scale an embankment near Mount Carmel Municipal Authority's sewage treatment plant outside of Kulpmont.
In November 2001, he was sentenced to four to eight years on an attempted homicide charge from Dauphin County and was paroled in September 2004.
