Det. Sgt. Stephen K. Dickinson examines some marijuana plants seized after an investigation into a marijuana growing operation led to an arrest for trafficking in cocaine. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
WESTFIELD – An investigation by city police into a report of a West School Street resident growing marijuana in his home did not yield sufficient evidence for a search warrant but did lead to a warrant to search an apartment in the same building which was occupied by a resident who was allegedly selling cocaine.
And, when the dust had settled, the original suspect was charged for growing marijuana after all.
Det. Sgt. Stephen K. Dickinson said that the original investigation led detectives to believe that residents of a West School Street apartment were selling cocaine and generated sufficient evidence for a warrant to search the residence.
Dickinson said that when detectives and uniformed officers descended on the house at 28 West School St. on Nov. 16 they entered through the wide open door after there was no response when they knocked.
Det. Brian Freeman reports, in a document filed in Westfield District Court in support of an application for a criminal complaint, that detectives walked up the stairs and found one of the suspects, Marcos M. Acevedo, 35, with his landlord, the suspect of the marijuana investigation.
Freeman reports that Acevedo was in possession of two bags of cocaine and said the one of the bags was for his personal use.
Freeman inferred from his remark that the other bag was for sale.
Freeman reports that in the bedroom Acevedo shares with Stacy Annmarie Biza, 29, (also a target of the warrant) police found a supply of cocaine packaged in small plastic bags, a scale and ledgers. In addition, Freeman reports small empty bags containing cocaine residue and short plastic straws typically used for snorting cocaine were found throughout the apartment.
The cocaine seized in the apartment was found to total 30.42 grams. Dickinson said that cocaine is usually sold in packets containing between a half a gram and a gram of the narcotic and that the threshold for a charge of trafficking in cocaine, a more serious charge than distribution of cocaine, is 28 grams.
Freeman reports that in the bathroom a prescription pill bottle in Biza’s name was found to contain three different kinds of pills, two of which are Class E narcotics for which Biza had no prescription.
Biza came home during the search and she and Acevedo were each arrested for trafficking in cocaine and, since their apartment is 631 feet from the Westfield YMCA which operates a pre-school, a drug violation near a school.
Acevedo was also charged with possession of a Class B drug and possession of Class B drug with intent to distribute (a subsequent offense). Freeman reports that Acevedo was convicted of the latter charge in a 1994 case.
Biza was also arrested for two charges of possession of a Class E drug.
Both were arraigned in Westfield District Court and each was released on $1,500 cash bail pending hearings on Jan. 25, 2013.
While officers were searching the apartment, detectives spoke with the landlord about the evidence which led them to investigate his house in the first place and, after discussion, the owner allowed them into his cellar where he showed them his marijuana growing apparatus.
Dickinson reports that “two or three good sized” marijuana plants were seized along with ancillary growing equipment.
A criminal complaint will be filed, Dickinson said, against the homeowner for cultivation of marijuana and he will be summoned to district court for arraignment at the convenience of the court.
