Armed Parolee Wanted In Windsor Locks Drug Investigation Captured

WINDSOR LOCKS, CT — A convicted felon on parole who has been the subject of a Windsor Locks police investigation into fentanyl distribution at a local hotel, and who also had an active warrant for his arrest on charges of first-degree escape, was taken into custody Tuesday in Hartford.

Bruce Michaud, 36, has been under investigation for distributing fentanyl at the Bradley Inn on Route 75. He is on parole after being sentenced in late 2019 to four years in prison on narcotics and firearms charges, according to judicial records.

Investigative sources revealed Michaud was living at the Bradley Inn, and a vehicle associated with him was spotted on upper Blue Hills Avenue in Hartford by a Windsor Locks officer assigned to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Task Force. He immediately recognized Michaud as the front seat passenger, Lt. Paul Cherniack said.

Contact was made and detectives, a Windsor Locks marked unit and Hartford police all responded. The unmarked DEA unit kept Michaud in sight until all units could converge on the vehicle. "He is known to be armed and dangerous, so the tactical situation had to be considered for a safely executed arrest," Cherniack said.

At the intersection of Park and Lafayette streets in Hartford, officers initiated a felony stop of the vehicle, blocking Michaud in and preventing an escape. Once he was removed from the vehicle, officers saw a holstered pistol on the floor behind the front seat, as well as about 300 bags of packaged fentanyl and four ounces of suspected cocaine, Cherniack said.

Michaud was charged with two counts each of possession of a controlled substance and possession with intent to sell, and single counts of carrying a pistol without a permit, illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, criminal possession of a firearm and theft of a firearm. He is being held at the Hartford Correctional Center in lieu of a $1 million bond, Cherniack said.