Shooting Incident Leads to $2.2M Drug Bust

A home invasion call in the Queen City last week led to what police are calling one of the biggest recent drug busts in the region’s history.

On June 22, 2015, police in Manchester were called to a home invasion report on Winter Street where a woman, Jeannette Hardy, 24, of Manchester, was shot. Police reported that she was attempting to flee the home invasion and was shot by an African-American man who entered her apartment and started assaulting her.

Detectives arrived after the scene and began an investigation into the situation and “quickly identified a large quantity of heroin” insider her apartment, according to Lt. Brian O’Keefe of the Manchester Police Department. The detectives applied for a warrant and allegedly found 1,929 grams of heroin ($193,000 street value), nearly $200,000 in cash, and a money counter.

Hardy was treated for her injuries and arrested on June 24, 2015, and charged with possession with intent to distribute and was arraigned on June 25. She later posted bail and was released.

Editor’s note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Manchester Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction. Click this link to find out how to get a name removed from a New Hampshire Patch police report.

As detectives continued to investigate the case, the alleged drug incident led to individuals in Massachusetts.

On June 24, Luis Nieves, 33, (pictured center) of Haverhill, MA, was arrested after members of the DEA and Manchester’s Special Enforcement Division reportedly followed him around Manchester and Massachusetts.

Nieves was stopped on the West Side and allegedly was in possession of 2,120 grams of heroin ($210,000 street value). He was charged with possession with intent to distribute and conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. He is being held on $250,000 cash bail.

DEA agents began working with Massachusetts law enforcement officials to local another person allegedly involved in the drug investigation, later identified as Jose C. Casellas, 37, (pictured right) of Lawrence, MA.

“Casellas allegedly delivered three additional kilograms of heroin to an undisclosed source in Andover, MA, on June 25, at 8 p.m.,” according to O’Keefe. “Andover, MA Police officers took part in the investigation and apprehended Casellas with three kilograms of heroin/fentanyl.”

Casellas was charged with trafficking in heroin over 200 grams and giving a false name during booking. He is being held in Massachusetts on $1.5 million cash bail.

The drugs that Casellas was allegedly in possession of had a street value of about $300,000, according to O’Keefe.

The fentanyl was transported to Washington, D.C., and tested at a lab.

“The fentanyl mixture is of great concern because it has a transdermal quality which makes it extremely dangerous for investigators to handle,” O’Keefe noted.

Casellas’ Lawrence MA apartment, located on Lawrence Street, was searched and agents allegedly found $20,000 in cash. A second apartment, on Woodland Street in Lawrence, MA, was also searched and agents allegedly found a drug mill/laboratory, according to the report. Agents allegedly found 15 kilograms of heroin/fentanyl with an estimated street value of about $1.5 million, along with drug pressers, finger presses, blenders, and “other items commonly used in the manufacturing and packaging of illegal drugs, to include heroin and fentanyl,” according to the report.

According to police, along with local police and the DEA, the Essex County Sheriff’s Office, the Massachusetts Attorney General, the MA State Police, and police departments in Andover, Lawrence, and Methuen, all assisted in the investigation.

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