WESTFIELD – A Granville man received a two-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to drug charges and resisting arrest.
Police conducted a routine traffic stop on May 22 around 7:15 p.m. after seeing a man throw an empty packet of heroin out of his car window.
Officer Timothy Fanion saw a grey sedan parked on the shoulder of Ponders Hollow Road in the area of the Tin Bridge.
When the officer was approximately 200 feet from the vehicle, he saw the object get thrown from the window before the driver took off.
“I observed a small white packet . . . with a white powder residue on it. . . (and) contained blue writing on it,” Fanion wrote in his report, “I identified the packet as being one that normally contains heroin.”
Fanion pulled over the driver of the sedan, Ronald J. Wierzbowski, 43, of 697 Old Westfield Road, Granville.
Wierzbowski was uncooperative during the traffic stop and “tried numerous times to break free, at times grabbing my wrists,” which resulted in the defendant needing to be tased, according to Fanion.
The defendant told Fanion that there was heroin in the vehicle side compartment. A search revealed “88 full packets of heroin in a Marlboro cigarette box.”
Wierzbowski was charged with possession of a Class A drug with intent to distribute, due to the large amount of heroin in his possession. The defendant was also charged with resisting arrest and assault and battery on a police officer.
In Westfield District Court Friday, Wierzbowski pleaded guilty to charges of possession to distribute a Class A drug, which was amended to possession only, and pleaded guilty to resisting arrest and had charges of assault and battery on a police officer dismissed.
He received a two-year sentence to the House of Correction suspended to December 4, 2017.
Staff Writer Christine Charnosky can be reached at [email protected]
