Published in the September 19, 2017 edition.
WAKEFIELD — A 53-year-old local man will be summonsed to court after he allegedly had 18 pounds of marijuana shipped to him at a New Salem Street address yesterday.
Wakefield Police and State police conducted the investigation based on information that they received from Homeland Security’s Investigative Bureau. A Homeland Security Agent had gone to a mail facility in California to serve a warrant and while there observed two packages, one of which contained a quantity of marijuana. The other package, also believed to contain marijuana, weighted 18 pounds and was allowed to be shipped to its destination, a New Salem Street address.
After being alerted by Homeland Security, Wakefield and State Police and set up surveillance near the New Salem Street home and watched as UPS delivered the package. Police said that a woman at the New Salem Street address came to the door and took the a large brown box inside. A short time later, according to police, a silver BMW drove up and a white male entered the house using a set of keys. He left a short time later carrying a black backpack.
Police investigation revealed that the name of the driver associated with the BMW, a Wakefield man, was the same name that was on the package delivered to the New Salem Street address. Police subsequently stopped the BMW in the area of Farm and Water streets at about 12:30 p.m. yesterday and found two small bags of marijuana in the car. They received consent to go back and search the New Salem Street house, where they found 18 pounds of marijuana, a scale, some baggies and a quantity of what were believed to be anabolic steroids.
The Wakefield man will be summonsed to court to face charges of possession of a Class D drug (marijuana) with intent to distribute.
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A local father notified police at about 3:15 p.m. yesterday that a stranger in a white van had pulled up to his daughter as she was walking home from school and an unknown man offered the girl a ride.
According to police, the father reported that the 12-year-old girl got off the school bus in the Woodcrest Drive neighborhood. As she was walking home, a white van pulled up. The driver told the girl that he was her neighbor and her mother had asked him to pick her up. The girl refused and ran home and called her mother. The driver of the van drove off. He was described as a man in his mid to late 30s with short dark hair and wearing a black hooded sweatshirt. Police have not located the man or the van.
