Drugs Smuggled into Essex Correctional Facility, Rockland Man Admits

MIDDLETON, MA - A Rockland man being held at the Essex County Correctional Facility in Middleton was sentenced to just over eight years in prison in federal court on Monday on drug charges. The charges were associated with importing the designer drug Molly from China as well as smuggling in, by inserting in his rectum, a small amount of the drug known as flakka to the Essex County Correctional Facility in Middleton.

Harold Bates, 33, of Rockland, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Patti B. Saris to 100 months in prison and three years of supervised release. In September 2015, Bates pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to import methylone, importation of methylone, possession with intent to distribute methylone, and possession of a controlled substance by an inmate.

In October 2013, Bates began ordering substantial quantities of methylone over the Internet from his supplier based in China. Bates and the supplier discussed methods of concealing the drugs to avoid detection. When the methylone packages were shipped to Bates, the Chinese supplier included documents that falsely described the packages as containing samples of household items such as cosmetics with a value of $10 to $20 when, in fact, the drugs were worth considerably more.

Federal agents discovered Bates’s scheme and, in December 2013, obtained search warrants for two international packages. Both packages contained half a kilogram of methylone, which is a synthetic cathinone or “designer drug.”

In March 2014, Bates was arrested and charged with importing and distributing methylone. He was ordered detained and sent to the Essex County Correctional Facility. Shortly after Bates’s arrival, law enforcement officers learned that Bates had smuggled 4.70 grams of alpha-PVP, another synthetic cathinone (also known as “flakka”), into the facility by inserting the drugs into his rectum.