Couple Charged with Operating a Drug Factory Near Elementary School: Middletown Police

MIDDLETOWN, CT — A Middletown man and woman face several charges after police executed a search-and-seizure warrant on their apartment and found 57 bags of heroin and unpackaged heroin that could have yielded as many as 763 bags of heroin.

Police also found other drugs in the apartment and say they were within the reach of a 3-year-old child who lives in the apartment, which is located directly across from McDonough Elementary School, according to the police report.

Juan Pagan-Rivera, 27, and Lourdes Torreira, 26, were both arrested after police executed the search-and-seizure warrant on their Grove Street apartment at about 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 1.

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Detectives located the following items in the apartment: 10.9 grams of raw heroin, not packaged for sale; 57 bags of heroin; 13.4 grams of marijuana; 58 morphine sulphate pills; five acetaminophen/Oxycodone hydrochloride pills; two digital scales; $2,338 in cash and three cellphones.

Police said the amount of heroin located in the apartment would yield 545 to 763 bags of heroin for sale. The street value for the entire amount of heroin located in the apartment would be around $6,020 to $8,200, according to police.

Police confirmed that neither Pagan-Rivera nor Torreira had a prescription for the Oxycodone and Morphine, which had a total street value of $630.

Pagan-Rivera and Torreira were each arrested on charges of possession of a controlled substance, possession of narcotics with intent to sell, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of less than one-half ounce of marijuana, operation of a drug factory, possession of narcotics not in original container, possession of narcotics within 1,500 feet of a school and risk of injury to a minor.

Pagan-Rivera remains in custody on a $75,000 bond and was assigned a court date of Feb. 23, according to state judicial records.

Torreira was released on a promise to appear in court on Feb. 15.

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