Drugs 'R' Us

There’s a kind of hierarchy in the drug game. Dealers tend to specialize in broad categories of weed, coke, heroin and “other.” But why not carry whatever your customer base is looking for in a one-stop shop? The arrest of seven in Framingham last week shows how it works.

One car, with three occupants was seen purchasing from Luis Hernandez – someone “known” to the police from previous arrests. The car was followed and stopped. The three occupants were about to inject the cocaine they had purchased. Syringes and other “fixings” were evident in the car. Meanwhile, police followed Mr. Hernandez who dropped off another customer; that one admitted buying heroin from the dealer.

At the end of the day, seven were picked up, including Hernandez and a safe in his apartment was opened and found to contain heroin and cocaine, along with supplies to use and sell them. He was meeting the needs of his “customers.”

It’s up in the air whether the charges will stick however. The arrests may be defective on two grounds. First, the person who was charged with the heroin offense didn’t have heroin on her. Hernandez wasn’t driving the SUV he was stopped in either – any drugs found there can be blamed on the owner. As far as the safe goes, Hernandez has a roommate and it isn’t clear who the safe belongs to. Finally, without getting one of the users to flip, there isn’t much direct evidence against Hernandez – even the warrant for the apartment search is based on his customer’s say so.

For now, Mr. Hernandez posted his $10,000 bail and is due back in court the end of August. Things don’t look promising for prosecutors though. One of the defendants (who would have to testify against Hernandez) failed to show up for the arraignment – an arrest warrant has been issued. Until the next court date at least, one hopes the Drugs R Us operation is shut down.