Articles Posted in Drug Crimes

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This past Friday an investigation by members of the Salem, Massachusetts police department as well as officers from Ipswich, Beverly and the Essex County Sheriff’s office effectuated an arrest. The suspect is a sixty three year old Salem man. Ronald Marshall was the target of a month long investigation during which it was learned that Marshall was selling drugs out of his Appleton Street home. The police officers executed a Search Warrant around 3:00 p.m. on September 10, 2010. They found Oxycodone, Morphine and assorted other pills, Class C drugs in Massachusetts. They also located and seized over twenty pounds of Marijuana. Since the home lies within one thousand feet of a school zone the additional charge of School Zone Violation will be filed. The drugs are valued in excess of one hundred thousand dollars. The marijuana alone has an estimated value of seventy five thousand dollars. It is reported that Marshall has criminal convictions for Drug Trafficking and Weapons Charges. The case is being prosecuted in the Salem District Court for now. It is likely that given his prior criminal history and the quantity of drugs that Marshall will be defending these allegations in the Essex County Superior Court.

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http://www.salemnews.com/local/x187426892/Big-drug-bust-nets-pot-pills-in-Salem

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Salem, Massachusetts Drug Crimes Defense Attorney

I am interested in knowing with what the district attorney will charge Marshall. Trafficking Marijuana cannot be charged since the threshold for Marijuana Trafficking in Massachusetts is fifty pounds. Many of the pills in Marshall’s home are of a prescription nature may not be unlawful for Marshall to possess. There are no details provided by the article that explain how the police got to Marshall. More importantly, there is no factual explanation of how the officers got the requisite information to obtain a warrant to search Marshall’s home. Some of the things a Massachusetts Drug Crimes Defense Lawyer will want to know is whether someone other than Marshall lived in the home, what room the drugs were found in, how the drugs were packaged, whether there was any drug trafficking or distribution paraphernalia seized during the search and who was present when the warrant was executed.

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Yesterday morning Lynn, Massachusetts Police observed Wilford Wright and two other people on Washington Street engaged in what they believed was a drug transaction. The officers reported that once Wright made eye contact with them he “tucked something into his pocket and began walking into the” Washington Street address. The officer asked him to stop. He refused. They then asked him where he was going. He responded that he was going to his friend’s apartment. One of the police officers then tried to Pat Frisk Wright. Wright resisted. Supposedly he then pushed the officer and a struggle ensued. Wright was subdued with pepper spray. Police then seized some crack cocaine. Wright was charged with Possession With Intent to Distribute Cocaine, Resisting Arrest and Assault and Battery on a Police Officer. The case is pending in the Lynn District Court.

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Lynn Man Charged With Assaulting Police Officers, Possession With Intent to Distribute Class “B”

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Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer, Drug Cases

In order to justify the stop and eventual frisk of Wright the police must have reasonable suspicion to believe that a crime had been committed, was being committed or was about to be committed at the time of the stop. Here the police believed that a drug deal was occurring. The article fails to specify what exactly the police observed and how they determined this to be criminal activity. The absence of detail or lack of experience of the officer, if any may serve as a basis for attacking the validity of the stop. Also, if the police used more force than necessary at the stop then the stop morphs into an arrest. There is a requirement that police have probable cause to effectuate an arrest. Suppression will lie if the use of force by the police exceeded what was necessary for the stop and a judge determines that the stop was actually an arrest lacking probable cause.

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Brockton, Massachusetts police officers were on routine patrol Monday evening when they observed a group near a certain car. The police approached the group and the car pulled away. Officers noticed that the car did not have a valid inspection sticker. They pulled the car over. They also saw someone in the car making movements they believed to be suspicious. The car was searched. The officers found one hundred seventy grams of marijuana and a .380 caliber handgun. The driver, Vanden Keith and his occupants, Olivio Correia and Timothy Correia were arrested. Both Keith and Olivio Correia were charged with Conspiracy, a School Zone Violation and Possession With Intent to Distribute a Class D Substance, Marijuana. Timothy Correia faces the same charges as well as a complaint for Carrying a Firearm. The cases are pending in the Brockton District Court.

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http://www.enterprisenews.com/news/cops_and_courts/x1169807821/Brockton-police-gang-unit-arrests-three-for-drugs-handgun

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Brockton Drug Defense Lawyer

Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 94C Section 40 codifies the crime of conspiracy in Massachusetts. The law states that anyone who conspires to violate the controlled substances laws in Massachusetts shall be punished. The maximum penalty for conspiracy is the same as the maximum sentence authorized for the offense that underlies the conspiracy charge. There is no minimum mandatory sentence for a conspiracy conviction. The standard for proving a conspiracy his high. Massachusetts Courts have held that even where police officers, who had been observing the occupants of an automobile drinking and smoking for twenty minutes, and saw the driver, who appeared to be very high on something take a bag later found to contain a controlled substance from the front seat and stash it under the seat lacked sufficiency to support a finding that a rear-seat passenger had conspired to violate the Controlled Substances Act. Facts like these might be applicable to the Keith and the Correias.

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Detectives from Ipswich, Massachusetts and Beverly, Massachusetts observed a car being driven by Brian Sotiropoulos. The police had prior dealings with Sotiropoulos and his girlfriend, Cassandar Thomas, both from Georgetown, Massachusetts. It has been reported that the two were arrested in Ipswich on another occasion for Possession With the Intent to Distribute Marijuana and Conspiracy. The officers followed Sotiropoulos to a location where they saw him engage in what appeared to be a drug transaction. Sotiropoulos was pulled over. A subsequent search of his car revealed Percocet pills and OxyContin pills. Authorities allege that Peter Dolan of Ipswich was the buyer of illicit substances during the purported transaction. He was found in possession of four Percocet pills. Also located in Sotiropoulos’ vehicle was marijuana and Xanax. Both Sotiropoulos and Thomas are charged with Drug Trafficking, Conspiracy and Possession With Intent to Distribute Drugs. Dolan has been charged with Possession of Drugs. The cases are pending in the Newburyport District Court. The district attorney’s office will most likely indict the trafficking cases and the prosecution will take place in the Essex County Superior Court in Salem.

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http://www.salemnews.com/local/x1772339275/Trio-arrested-on-variety-of-narcotics-charges

Massachusetts Drug Trafficking Defense Lawyer, Newburyport, Essex County, OxyContin

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The easiest case to focus on given the limited information in this article is Thomas’ exposure. By all accounts she was no more than a passenger in Sotiropoulos’ car. She had no role in the alleged transaction. There is no evidence that she possessed or aided or abetted in any drug distribution efforts. Being present during the commission of a crime without more does not give rise to guilt. There must be more. There must be some type of active involvement and an intent to engage in criminal activity. Thomas might prevail on a motion to dismiss. Sotiropoulos will have to take a different approach to defending his case. One thing is certain. He will be moving to suppress the stop, search and seizure of his vehicle and its contents.

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Thomas Colbert of Brockton, Massachusetts was arrested Monday and charged with Trafficking Marijuana. It was reported that Colbert went to a shipping facility where marijuana had just been delivered. He arrived in a rented truck. Apparently authorities had been tipped off by a trucking company in Abington that suspicious packages had been delivered from a California address. Drug sniffing dogs alerted police to the possibility that the packages contained marijuana. Colbert, a local wedding photographer tried to take possession of the packages and was arrested. Police located about seven hundred pounds of marijuana in the boxes. The drugs were “professionally wrapped” to conceal the odor of the drugs. The street value of the substance is estimated at over one million dollars. Colbert’s relatives pooled their money and came up with the forty thousand dollars bail money.

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http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/08/18/abington_arrest_nets_1m_in_marijuana/

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Plymouth County Superior Court Marijuana Trafficking Lawyer

Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 94C Section 32E is the charge Colbert must defend in this case. The law in Massachusetts states that anyone convicted of Trafficking Marijuana in Excess of one hundred pounds and less than two thousand pounds must serve a minimum mandatory three year sentence if convicted. The key to the prosecution’s success in this case will be established by Colbert’s actions at the time he was at the trucking facility coupled with any evidence preceding his arrival suggesting that he intended to access the substance. Renting a truck is certainly a factor that works against him absent a realistic and innocent explanation for that act. What strikes me as odd in this case is that the sender went to great lengths to ensure that the marijuana was packaged in a manner to would avoid drug detection by dogs. Apparently they used fabric softener, shrink wrap, newspapers and grease to mask the odor. How then did the dogs end up smelling the substance. If law enforcement opened the substance prior to the dogs alerting them to their finding then Search and Seizure issues are implicated and perhaps a Motion to Suppress might succeed.

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Francis O’Leary and Brian Aylward both of Lowell, Massachusetts have been charged with Trafficking in OxContins in Middlesex County. According to a report in the Lowell Sun, Lowell police were told that O’Leary was on his way to the scene of the arrest to pick up some drugs. The police were also tipped off as to what Aylward looked like and the type of car he would be driving. Confirming the tip the police saw the car. They pulled it over for an expired sticker. During a search officers located marijuana, heroin, oxycontins and percocets as well as a significant amount of money. Both O’Leary and Aylward have served lengthy state prison sentences. Some of the charges issued include a School Zone Violation, Trafficking Class B, Possession With Intent to Distribute Class C, Possession with Intent to Distribute Class D, Possession of Class B, Possession of class A, Heroin, Conspiracy and more.

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Two From Lowell With Felony Convictions Charged With Drug Trafficking

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Typical to any drug case involving a stop and search of a motor vehicle the key to the defense of this case will likely rest on the constitutionality of the Motor Vehicle stop. Here, the question will be “Did the expired inspection sticker give police the right to further search the car or was there some other reason that the search ensued?”. Additionally, the credibility and reliability of the informant may come into play. The basis of the information supplied by this person to law enforcement and whether or not this person has proven to be reliable in the past are factors to be weighed when determining whether or not a constitutional violation has occurred.

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Tyrone Farrar of Lawrence, Massachusetts was arraigned yesterday in the Newburyport District Court on charges of Statutory Rape. Farrar, a security guard at the Frost School is accused of having consensual sex with a fourteen year female student from that school. Initially, Farrar, the victim and the victim’s mother all denied that Farrar’s relationship with the girl was of a sexual nature. This changed however this past weekend when Farrar was arrested for OUI Drugs in Salisbury, Massachusetts with the girl in the car. The prosecution alleges that after the arrest both Farrar and the girl admitted to having sexual relations on several occasions over the past year. The victim claims that the sex started when she was thirteen years old. Reports state that Farrar was also the girl’s basketball coach. Farrar has been held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing. Charges are now pending in the Newburyport District Court. The Rape of a Child charges will be indicted and prosecuted in the Essex County Superior Court in Salem.

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http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x1243783675/Lawrence-school-security-officer-charged-with-statutory-rape

Essex County Statutory Rape Defense Lawyer

Farrar is in a lot of trouble. Back in June of this year a Melrose, Massachusetts basketball coach, James Connor plead guilty to similar charges and was sentenced to twenty to thirty years in state prison. Connor was fifty two years old at the time. He will be eligible for parole when he is seventy two years old. While many people think that the “consensual” nature of Statutory Rape (Rape of a Child in Massachusetts) lends itself to leniency often times it does not. Farrar, as a security guard and coach is in a position of trust when it comes to the development and safety of the people under his care. A violation of that trust particularly in a sexual manner is often punished harshly in Massachusetts. The sexual acts, helping the victim sneak out of her house, the presence of drugs and a firearm, having the girl out into the early hours of the morning will all factor into his sentence if Farrar is convicted. In so many regards this case presents great challenges for Farrar’s Massachusetts Criminal Defense Attorney.

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Jorge Fernandez of Waltham and Antonio Rodriguez of Revere have both been charged with Cocaine Trafficking in the Middlesex County Superior Court in Woburn. Bail has been set at forty thousand dollars and one hundred thousand dollars respectively. The charges stem from an incident in Waltham alleged to have occurred on March 8, 2010. It has been reported that on that day an officer heard a loud noise that he was investigating. In doing so he observed a black Mercedes with Florida plates parked in an alley. The officer then saw a large amount of cash on the center console of the car. The officer questioned the occupants, Fernandez and Rodriguez and became suspicious with their responses. The officer then searched the car and located over two hundred grams of cocaine and over eight thousand dollars in cash. Both were charged with Trafficking Cocaine in Excess of Two Hundred Grams.

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http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/copsandcourts/x999356885/Grand-jury-indicts-two-men-charged-with-trafficking-cocaine

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Middlesex County Cocaine Trafficking Defense Lawyer

As I have mentioned in several previous blog posts it is likely that the defense in this case will center on the legality of the Search and Seizure. Based on the facts in this article this one seems tough. Our Courts have held that “[i]f policemen are to serve any purpose of detecting and preventing crime by being out on the streets at all, they must be able to take a closer look at challenging situations as they encounter them…Like many other courts, we have held that HN3the use of a flashlight to look into the interior of a car in such situations does not amount to a search at all.” Here, once the flashlight illuminated the car the officer decided to question the occupants. Their responses prompted more concern and ultimately the search of the vehicle.

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Just recently police in Framingham, Massachusetts were involved in an investigation involving Rafael Lopez and a Connecticut man. They had information that Lopez was selling cocaine. Lopez had an apartment in Framingham from which police observed people enter and quickly leave. This they believed to be consistent with drug related activities. Police also engaged in controlled purchases of cocaine. This past Sunday the police executed a Search Warrant to Lopez’s home. They found Rafael Lopez and Julio Lopez inside the apartment with some cocaine cutting agents and cocaine. Also located during the search was the money used during the controlled buy. Both men have been charged with a School Zone Violation, Trafficking Cocaine in Excess of 28 Grams, Conspiracy and Possession With Intent to Distribute Marijuana. The case is currently in the Framingham District Court but will ultimately be prosecuted in the Middlesex County Superior Court in Woburn.

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http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/police_and_fire/x104356070/Framingham-men-charged-with-cocaine-trafficking

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Massachusetts Drug Trafficking Defense Attorney

Many cases are successfully won by Massachusetts Drug Trafficking Lawyers by filing Motions to Suppress and challenging the legality of a search. Police need probable cause to get a search warrant. The threshold for obtaining a warrant is high. The fact that a warrant was issued by a magistrate does not ensure that the search was lawful. Usually, when lawyers win motions to suppress the drugs that were seized by the police officers are excluded from evidence at trial. For all practical purposes this ends the prosecutions’ case.

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This past Thursday Santo “Macho” Suarez of Lawrence, Massachusetts was arrested and charged with Breaking and Entering, School Zone Violation and Distribution of a Class B Substance, Crack Cocaine. He was also charged with Resisting Arrest and Disorderly Person. According to reports Suarez sold Crack Cocaine to an undercover police officer. As officers attempted to apprehend him Suarez took off in his car. He then abandoned the car and fled on foot. He broke into a home and hid in a closet. He then resisted police attempts to arrest him. Suarez also has a prior conviction for Distribution of Cocaine in Lawrence.

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http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x1907084331/Police-Man-hid-in-house-after-selling-drugs-to-officer

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Lawrence, Massachusetts Cocaine Distribution Defense Lawyer

Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 94C Section 32A states that anyone convicted of distributing cocaine after having been previously convicted of the same offense shall be punished by a minimum mandatory three year sentence. This is a felony in Massachusetts. The district court does not have jurisdiction over this crime so unless the district attorney agrees to reduce the charges Suarez is going to be prosecuted in the Essex County Superior Court in Salem. Hand to hand sales to undercover officers are very difficult to defend. Experienced Massachusetts Criminal Lawyers who try cases like this one often employ an entrapment defense. This requires the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was predisposed to committing this crime and that his will was not overborne by aggressive police officers.

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