A low profile business selling hemp derived health products on Dubois Street, above, was the scene of a recent botched home invasion and armed robbery attempt. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
WESTFIELD – Two men accused of a Dubois Street armed home invasion have been tracked down and arrested.
On May 16 city police were alerted to a disturbance at 13 Dubois St. by a neighbor and responded to find a botched home invasion and larceny attempt.
Det. Sgt. Stephan Dickenson reports in a court document that the victim of the invasion was a resident who “has a store on the first floor of this residence and sells high-priced CBD edibles, oils and concentrate extracts.
CBD products contain cannabinol extracted from hemp plants but has no THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) content, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana that produces a recreational ‘high’. They are used medically to treat conditions such as epilepsy, oxidative injury, vomiting and nausea, anxiety and schizophrenia.
Dickinson reports that video evidence shows two men, later identified as Lamar A. Evans Jr. and Willie A. Duke, approach the front door of the house shortly before 10 p.m.
Evans entered first, Dickinson wrote, and then Duke, carrying a pistol, pushed past him.
The victim told Dickinson that the man “pointed the gun at him and stated ‘This isn’t a joke. I’m (obscene gerund deleted) robbing you!”
Then, the video shows, “both suspects exit the house with the victim grabbing the gun and wrestling with the second male (Duke)”.
The pistol was not discharged, Dickinson said, and the suspects fled.
It was apparently at this point that a neighbor heard the disturbance and someone yelling “call the cops”. The woman called police.
Dickinson reports that video images of the suspects were circulated among law enforcement personnel and a Hampden County House of Corrections officer recognized Evans as a former inmate he had worked with.
Dickinson was able to confirm the identification and found that Evans was on probation supervised by Springfield District Court. With the cooperation of his probation officer, Evans was arrested on Thursday, May 24, after a probation appointment.
Evans, 25, of 101 Somerset St., Springfield, was arraigned in Westfield District Court Friday on charges of home invasion and attempting to commit a crime, armed robbery. He was held without right to bail pending a May 30 dangerousness hearing.
A .357 caliber Colt revolver, above, believed to have been used in a recent botched home invasion on Dubois Street, was seized Friday when Westfield and Chicopee police arrested the second of two men charged with the crime. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
With the assistance of Chicopee police, Dickinson reports, Duke, 25, of 300 East Main St., Chicopee, was also identified and located. Dickinson, Det. Brian Freeman and a Chicopee detective maintained surveillance on Duke’s suspected residence on Friday until he came out to take a walk and was arrested.
Freeman said that, during the surveillance, he periodically called the phone in Duke’s residence and, when it was answered, held down a key to simulate the sound of a fax machine. Freeman said that after Duke was arrested, he said he went out to take a walk to get away from the phone calls he was receiving.
Duke is expected to be arraigned Tuesday on the same charges as his confederate, Evans, but Dickinson said “we’re going to charge him with possession of a loaded firearm too” as the arresting officers seized a .357 Colt pistol believed to have been used in the home invasion which was loaded with .38 special rounds, called by one of the detectives involved in the case “hotter” ammunition than other bullets which could be used in the gun.
Both Dickinson and Freeman had high praise for the agencies which assisted in the case, principally the Chicopee police, the Hampden County Court probation and court officers and the Springfield police.
“Those guys did everything for us, we just had to show up”, Dickinson said.
He said he was pleased with the outcome. “We got the gun off the streets and two bad guys too.”
