Local man busted for trafficking
By Dave Rogers
Special to the Star-Herald
MERRIMAC, MA — A defective license plate light landed an Aroostook man in jail Dec. 19 after state police found almost a half kilo of heroin in his backpack, according to court records.
Alberto Vazquez, 38, of Presque Isle, was ordered held on $200,000 cash bail after his arraignment Dec. 19 in Newburyport District Court. He faces a single charge of heroin trafficking over 200 grams.
Essex County district attorney’s office spokeswoman Carrie Kimball Monahan said prosecutors originally asked for $500,000 cash bail. Vazquez is due back in court Feb. 1 for a pretrial hearing.
State Trooper David Bouchard said in his report he was patrolling Interstate 495 north in Merrimac around 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 19 when he spotted a Ford pickup with a burned-out license plate light.
After pulling the truck over, Bouchard noticed that Vazquez, who was in the passenger seat, was shaking and avoiding eye contact. Bouchard asked the driver where they had been coming from, and the driver, who was not charged, said Massachusetts.
When told by the trooper they were in Massachusetts, Vazquez blurted out they were coming from his mother’s house in Springfield. Growing suspicious, Bouchard asked them if they had any drugs or weapons in the truck. Bouchard also asked why Vazquez appeared nervous, prompting him to say he had just finished probation for a robbery conviction. Bouchard wrote that he wasn’t satisfied with the answers and asked if he could search the car.
After receiving permission, Bouchard asked Vazquez and the driver to step outside and be handcuffed. With the assistance of Trooper Brian Fuller, the truck was searched. Bouchard said in his report the search turned up a Bic pen with brown residue inside the tube.
Bouchard also found a brown backpack in the rear passenger side seat. When he asked the driver who owned the bag, he said it belonged to Vazquez. Inside the bag was a gray T-shirt tied with white rope. Inside the shirt Bouchard found several smaller bundles of what appeared to be heroin.
Vazquez denied the bag was his, telling the trooper it belonged to his brother.
“I asked Vazquez why he had his brother’s backpack with him, and he could not reply,” Bouchard wrote.
The seized heroin weighed 434.8 grams, according to Bouchard’s report.
Staff writer Dave Rogers can be reached at drogers@newburyportnews.com.
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