Police also arrested a second man (from Quincy) after he allegedly came to pick up the boxes from the Framingham man.
Both of the men were charged with trafficking cocaine, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, and conspiracy to violate Massachusetts’s drug laws.
The Quincy man was ordered held on $25,000 bail. The Framingham man received $50,000 bail for the charges of this case. However, the Framingham man has been ordered held without bail on a probation violation for failing to pay $800 in fines for a drunken driving chase in July.
The two men are both due back in court on Dec. 13 for a pretrial conference. The Framingham man will also have a probation violation hearing for his former charges.9
Police in this case gathered evidence prior to the arrests. Investigators from the San Bernadino, California, Sheriff’s office reportedly contacted the Framingham Police Departemtn about boxes containing large amounts of marijuana being sent to 243 Howard St. in Framingham. The boxes reportedly matched past shipments that had been seized. A police officer reportedly posed as a UPS employee and contacted the recipeient of the boxes. The recipient, allegedly the Framingham man, asked for the packages to be dropped off. He was arrested when he allegedly signed for the packages.
According to police, the Framingham man told police he is paid to “catch packages,” which is a term used in the drug trade to refer to dealer having packages delivered to others to protect their identities. He also allegedly told police that he had received around ten shipments for the person and had received around twenty total packages of drugs.
The Quincy man was arrested an hour later after he reportedly arrived to pick up the drugs. He allegedly told police he was paid to pick up the package after the first man telephoned a different person to pick up the drugs.
The two men are facing serious charges and imprisonment. Drug trafficking is the most serious drug charge under Massachusetts law. In order to prevail on the trafficking charge, prosecutors will have to prove that the men possessed cocaine with an intent to sell it and that the amount of cocaine meets the threshold to constitute trafficking. If convicted of the charge of trafficking cocaine, the men are facing imprisonment. The packages contained approximately thirteen pounds of cocaine, which means that the men are facing a mandatory minumum of fifteen years in prison with a possibility of receiving a twenty-year sentence. To prevail on the possession of marijuana with intent do distribute charge, prosecutors must prove that the men had possession of marijuana and had the intent to distribute it. If convicted of this charge, they are facing facing possible jail time, but this charge does not carry a minimum jail sentence.
Prosecutors may have a difficult time proving their case against the men due to the fact that they will have to prove that the men knew that drugs were in the packages they were coming to pick up. Because the men each allegedly confessed to picking up the packages for money, prosecutors may have an easier time than they would have if the men had not given those statements. However, the strength of the prosecutors’ case may be determined by what exactly the men said to each other on the phone and what they said to the police. Also, statements can often be suppressed if the suspects had not been read their Miranda rights or if they were not fully aware of their rights before they spoke to police.
Both men will need skilled criminal defense attorneys to protect their record and help them achieve the best outcomes for their cases. If you are facing a drug charge, contact Attorney Cappetta today to schedule a free consultation.