Crime & Safety
4 Arrested After Alleged Drug Activity in Friendly's Lot
Four, including a Worcester woman, are facing charges after their car was stopped in Sturbridge over the weekend.
WORCESTER, MA — An erratic driver on a Massachusetts highway led Mass. State Police to make a stop, and ultimately arrest four on drug charges, over the weekend.
Mass. State Police Troopers on Saturday afternoon patrolled Route 84 eastbound in Sturbridge, where they saw a white Toyota Avalon being driven erratically. The driver of the Avalon abruptly exited the highway, and troopers followed the vehicle to a Friendly's parking lot.
A second vehicle, a white Nissan Altima, arrived in the lot, and the people in the two cars interacted, said police. The Avalon then left the parking lot, and Trooper Figueiredo pulled the car over. The trooper identified the operator as Joseph Morales, 28, of Jersey City, NJ, and the passenger as Fernando Negron, 28, of Jersey City, NJ. Troopers found narcotics paraphernalia in the vehicle.
Sturbridge Police Officer Symanski, who had responded to assist, investigated the occupants of the Altima, which remained in the Friendly’s parking lot. The operator, Michele DeLeo, 38, Worcester, claimed to not know the man who was, by this point, sitting in the back of her vehicle, said police. That man was identified as Elias Abreu, 30 North Bergen, NJ.
Abreu had been sitting in the Avalon but got into DeLeo's car with a duffel bag before the Avalon left the lot. Sturbridge officers found various containers of pills, powder-like substances, and green vegetable matter that appeared to be marijuana.
DeLeo will be summonsed to court to face a charge of possessing a Class B substance with intent to distribute.
Morales, Negron, and Abreu were arrested and charged with the following offenses:
1. Possession of a Class D substance with intent to distribute;
2. Possession of a Class E substance with intent to distribute (2 counts);
3. Trafficking in cocaine;
4. Trafficking in heroin;
5. Trafficking in methamphetamine; and
6. Conspiracy to violate drug law
The three men were arrested and transported to the State Police barracks in Sturbridge for booking. They were expected to be arraigned early this week at Dudley District Court.
Photos via Mass. State Police
