Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog

At approximately 10:45pm last night Wednesday, May 25, 2011 police responded to the area of Commonwealth and Harvard Ave. for a report by motorist that he had been threatened with a firearm by two other motorists in a silver BMW.

The police were able to stop the vehicle fitting the description with two young men inside, Aram Barseghyam, 28, of Brighton and Aleksandr Yeghiyan, 22, of Watertown. A search of the vehicle revealed a black BB type gun which resembled a real firearm. Both men were arrested and will be arraigned in Brighton District Court on threats to do harm for brandishing what appeared to be a real firearm.

Continue reading "Two men arrested in Brighton for threatening another motorist with a weapon after a road rage incident" »

Developer William O'Connell who is known for having created the Marina Bay development and more recently the Granite links golf course was released yesterday in Quincy District Court on $150,000 cash bail for charges of aggravated statutory rape, sex for a fee and trafficking in cocaine.

Not much is known about the specifics of the case since the alleged victim is a minor, it appears there are two counts of statutory rape and two counts of sex for a fee, it is alleged that he was in possession of 19 grams of cocaine upon his arrest and therefore was charged with trafficking in cocaine.

Continue reading "Quincy businessman pleads not guilty to aggravated statutory rape, sex for a fee and trafficking in cocaine released on $150,000 cash bail" »

Two teenage girls in Somerville died after a car accident Friday morning at approximately 3:30 AM. Kenneth Belew, 21, of Somerville was driving under the influence of alcohol and a high rate of speed on the McGrath O'Brien Highway overpass when his car lost control and collided with the cement safety wall. Five passengers were in the vehicle, two female teenagers who were not wearing seatbelts died of their injuries. Police have not yet released the names of the victims.

The driver Belew was arraigned this morning in Somerville District Court for operating under the influence of alcohol, vehicular homicide, speeding and marked lane violation. He was held on $5,000 cash bail.

Continue reading "21-year-old in Somerville charged with motor vehicle homicide and drunk driving after early morning accident on Sunday on the McGrath Highway" »

Cynthia King, 46, and MBTA bus driver out of the Cabot yard facility in South Boston was arrested yesterday for possession with intent to distribute cocaine. An undisclosed amount of cocaine and money was found in her possession.

King was suspended from her MBTA job and is being arraigned today Dorchester District Court.

Continue reading "Brockton MBTA bus driver arrested and charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine in Dorchester District Court" »

Karen Morla Ramos, 22, flew into Boston from the Dominican Republic on a JetBlue flight early Sunday morning. U.S. Customs service and border protection grew suspicious after questioning her and performed a patdown search of her clothing. Over 1 kilogram of cocaine was discovered in what appeared to be a diaper concealed in her outer clothing.

She was arrested by customs service officers and charged with trafficking in cocaine. It is not unusual for drug traffickers to use children and young adults as mules to conceal drugs and sneak them into the country. The majority of these mules are given little information about the source of the drugs and are usually told that they will be given further instructions upon their arrival.

Continue reading "Woman held on $250,000 cash bail in East Boston District Court on cocaine trafficking charges after caught with over 1kilo of cocaine at Boston Logan airport" »

Wayne Leduc, 40, pleaded not guilty to charges of operating under the influence of liquor, operating negligently to endanger, failure to move over for an emergency vehicle, and marked lanes violation in Quincy District Court. Bail was set at $1500.

These charges stem from trooper Brian Berry, 43, pulling over another vehicle at 4:30 AM on I 93 northbound near exit 9 in Quincy. Trooper Barry was standing in front of his cruiser during the traffic stop when Leduc crashed into the rear of the trooper's vehicle propelling the trooper's car into him causing leg injuries.

Continue reading "A Milton man pleaded not guilty to drunk driving and other charges in Quincy District Court related to an accident which injured a state trooper" »

The five-hour standoff with police ended with two suspects being found in a crawlspace in an apartment above the liquor store. The store owner has told police that shortly after noon on Sunday the two suspects entered his store one brandished a gun and hit him on the head with it, the other suspect also had a firearm. An employee and customer were also in the store at the time of the robbery all three men were beaten and held against their will.

The owner and his employee as well as the customer were eventually led from the liquor store one of them still bound in duct tape. They had injuries to their head and were led bleeding to a waiting ambulance.

Continue reading "Two men in custody after liquor store robbery in Lawrence, hostages taken" »

Brian Smith, 43, pled guilty to two counts of masked armed robbery, one count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, one count of receiving stolen motor vehicle and weapons charges.

These charges relate to a 2004 daylight robbery of an armored car that was like a scene out of the movie "The Town"; the robbery occurred in Quincy where the armored car driver was left severely wounded. Smith admitted to helping two other men, Dennis Quirk, 42, of Roslindale and Martin O'Brien, 43, of Malden in robbing the armored car in front of a citizens Bank on Hancock Street in Quincy in October 2004. The men were armed with AK-47 assault rifles and ambushed the driver of the Loomis Fargo armored truck.

Continue reading "Dorchester Man convicted of robbing an armored car" »

Michael Ciarlone, 54, is accused in Chelsea District Court of using his truck with a plow to push snow around a vehicle that he believed parked in his spot. When the vehicle owner and other neighbors came out to confront him he pinned a neighbor with his truck and then kicked him in the head. He's accused of striking another man breaking his glasses.

These assaults occurred last month but the defendant was arraigned today in Chelsea District Court. The police claim that the defendant was intoxicated when they arrived he was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, malicious destruction of property and operating under the influence.

Continue reading "Revere man charged with assault on his neighbors over a disputed parking spot" »

The FBI and Boston police have no leads as to who stole hundreds of bags of drugs from a Boston police evidence warehouse in Hyde Park over three years ago. Drugs held as evidence in over 265 criminal cases ranging from heroin, cocaine, marijuana and prescription medication went missing without a trace over three years ago. The investigation has included 25 to 30 investigators including FBI agents who have been unable to tie any physical evidence of the crime to any suspect.

Most of the drugs taken were oxycodone. The drugs that were stolen mostly came from criminal cases investigated between 1991 and 1997. It is the older unresolved drug cases which require that the police hold on to the evidence that is causing a backlog of drug evidence in the Hyde Park depository. The police warehouse now holds more than 45,000 cases of drug evidence that is at least 10 years old and officials want to destroy. Without the criminal case being closed the destruction of evidence may lead to the cases being dismissed if challenged by the defendant.

Continue reading "Investigation into Heroin, cocaine and marijuana stolen from Boston police drug lab still has no leads after three years" »

Of all MBTA stations Andrew station saw the biggest increase in serious crimes in 2010. In 2009 five crimes were reported, all thefts at Andrew station; in 2010, 22 serious crimes were reported, 14 of which were robberies, there were also two assault and battery charges reported.

Mattapan's MBTA station saw a drop in crime from 2009 to 2010 with reported crimes dropping from 15 to 4. Fields corner also saw a decrease in reported crimes from 15 to 7 reports in 2010.

Continue reading "Number of crimes quadrupled at Andrew MBTA station last year" »

A joint task force consisting of both state and federal agents raided a lawrence apartment on Union street Wednesday night and discovered over $3.2 Million dollars of Heroin (street value), or 4 kilos.

The bust came after an investigation which began in New Bedford. All the participants will be charged with Trafficking in Heroin and are set to be arraigned in Lawrence District Court. The 6 arrested are: Victor Santana, 32, of Lawrence; Jose Cruz Pizarro, 30, of Connecticut; Francisco Rosado Rivera, 40, of Lawrence; Elvis Ruiz Guerrero, 36, of Boston; Oveido Lopez, 23, of Lawrence; and Luis Gonzalez, 18, of Lawrence

Continue reading "4 Kilos of Heroin found in Lawrence Apartment, 6 people arrested" »

Luis Gabriel Escalante, 22, will be arraigned in Chelsea district court this morning on charges of motor vehicle homicide and leaving the scene of an accident. Charges stem from a December 14, 2010 accident in which Julio Vaquerano of Revere, 36, was hit while in Chelsea near Blossom and Maple Street. The driver at the time left the scene leaving Vaquerano with severe injuries and trauma. Vaquerano was pronounced dead upon arrival to the hospital.

Little is known at this time as how the police linked Escalante or his vehicle to the accident, or whether an eyewitness provided information which helped in the identification.

Continue reading "Arrest made after fatal hit and run in Chelsea" »

Robert McGillivary appealed his conviction of OUI 4th offense based on the fact that he had merely turned the key in the ignition to start the electricity in the car and argued to the court that this was not enough to show operation of the vehicle.

The Court of Appeals disagreed with him and decided that turning the key was in act that was enough for a jury to convict him of operating under the influence.

Continue reading "Massachusetts Court of Appeals upholds conviction for drunk driving charge where only evidence of operation was that the defendant turned the key to turn on the electricity in the vehicle" »

John McCarthy, 61, and MBTA bus driver rear-ended a vehicle Friday night while working driving and MBTA bus in Somerville. No serious injuries resulted to either passengers on the bus or in the other vehicle. Mr. McCartney was found to have open bottle of vodka in his back pocket, police charged him with operating under the influence.

Mr. McCarthy was said to have failed field sobriety tests at the scene. The MBTA plans on firing Mr. McCarthy based on what has been reported. He was arraigned this morning in Somerville District Court and released on personal recognizance.

Continue reading "MBTA bus driver charged with drunk driving after bus accident in Somerville" »