WESTFIELD – A city man, caught by State Police in possession of heroin, was quick to take responsibility for his contraband in order to shield his father from the repercussions of heroin possession.
State Trooper Gail Buck reports that she and Trooper Steve Hean had been monitoring traffic near the intersection of North and East Mountain road Monday afternoon when a random query of a passing vehicle revealed that the son of the registered owner was the subject of two outstanding warrants.
Buck reports that although the operator matched the Registry of Motor Vehicles photo of the owner, the passenger appeared to be the age of the owner’s son and the troopers followed the station wagon until it stopped at a convenience store where the passenger entered the store.
The troopers followed him inside and, when asked, he identified himself as Gerald F. Mulligan Jr., 34, of 103 Court Street, but denied knowledge of the warrants.
Buck reports that when taken into custody he was asked, “since he had prior history of class A substance offenses”, if he was in possession of any needles and Mulligan said that although he did not have any needles on his person he had a “kit” in the car.
Buck reports “Mulligan was concerned about his father (owner/operator of the vehicle) getting into trouble” and was forthright with the troopers.
The operator of a vehicle is considered to be in control of a vehicle and is generally responsible for its contents.
Mulligan told them that he had just purchased heroin in Holyoke and had recently injected a dose in a restaurant bathroom.
Buck reports that his father consented to a search of his vehicle and she found the kit, which included “five pink wax bags (bindles), each with a small amount of tan residue inside” which she recognized to be packaging for heroin.
She also found three white pills and reports “Mulligan admitted that these were sleeping pills, not prescribed to him.”
Mulligan was arrested and the bail clerk ordered that he be held without right to bail.
Arraigned in Westfield District Court Tuesday before Judge Philip A. Contant on charges of possession of a Class A drug and possession of a Class E drug, Mulligan was held in lieu of $500 cash bail pending a July 10 hearing.
