City man charged with possession of fentanyl, cocaine, firearm
WOONSOCKET – A city man is held without bail at the state prison after undercover members of the Woonsocket Police Department seized fentanyl, cocaine, cash, a revolver and ammunition from his girlfriend’s rent-subsidized apartment in the Morin Heights Family Housing Development.
Radames J. Roman Morales, 23, of 176 Morin Heights Blvd., is charged with 10 counts in all, including possession of a controlled substance; possession of an ounce to a kilogram of cocaine; possession of an ounce to a kilogram of fentanyl; maintaining a narcotics nuisance; possession of a controlled substance; and possession of a firearm during the commission of a drug-related crime.
Morales’s arrest brings an end to a month-long investigation during which he allegedly sold cocaine to agents of the WPD’s Vice Unit on two occasions, prompting detectives to obtain a warrant to search his apartment on Monday.
Police reports say officers seized Morales in the parking
lot outside his residence about 10:30 a.m. He was in possession of a small glassine bag of brownish powder that later tested positive for fentanyl.
After entering his apartment, police found a sandwich bag containing 31.4 grams of fentanyl. Combined with the drugs Morales was allegedly carrying in the parking lot, police seized a total of 32.6 grams of the fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, many times more powerful than heroin, that health officials say has been a major contributing factor in the epidemic of fatal opioid overdoses.
According to the state Department of Health, there were 314 opioid-related overdose fatalities in 2017 – 22 fewer than the year before. But more than a third of the 2017 deaths – 115 – involved fentanyl, either alone or in combination with some other opioid, most commonly heroin.
“Fentanyl, a highly potent opioid, poses a great threat and exacerbates our overdose crisis,” the health department says. “The number of overdose deaths related to fentanyl has increased 15-fold since 2009. A significant portion of the 2016 deaths involved fentanyl.”
During the raid at Morales’s apartment, investigators also seized a bag containing 31.4 grams of cocaine; a loaded .38-caliber revolver with 38 additional rounds of ammunition; a stun gun; and $603 in cash. Police also found four strips of Suboxone, a therapeutic drug prescribed to stave of the symptoms of opioid withdrawal, and a small amount of marijuana.
The raid also yielded a smorgsabord of drug paraphernalia, including sales ledgers, a digital scale, sandwich bags, and corner cuts of sandwich bags used to package small amounts of drugs for street-level sale. Officers also found a container of Similac, a brand of powder infant formula that can be used as “cut” to dilute narcotics and increase profits.
At the time of his arrest, Morales was on bail from the only other charge on his record – first-degree child abuse, according to the judiciary’s web site. Local police arraigned him on the charge in Sixth District Court on Feb. 21.
Police say Morales is accused of striking a three-yearold boy in the head repeatedly with his hands. The child was that of a neighbor for whom Morales was babysitting at the time of the alleged abuse. A parent reported the abuse when the child came home with bruises.
Police say Morales – who lived with his girlfriend and four children – equipped his apartment with a salon-qual- ity barber chair and clipping equipment. The gun was found in a clipper bag.
It’s unknown who Morales’ hair-cutting clients were, but police say his apart- ment was a haven for a dangerous mix of children, drugs and weapons.
“It was good to get the gun – thank goodness it didn’t get into the hands of a child or get stolen or that it wasn’t used in the commission of another crime,” said Lt. Kyle Stone of the Vice Unit. “It was also good to get the fentanyl off the street. Truth be told, there’s still plenty more out there, but we look at this as maybe giving a pass to someone who in line for an overdose. Maybe we saved some lives.”
During a preliminary appearance in Sixth District Court on the new charges Tuesday morning, Morales was ordered held without bail pending a review hearing on March 27.
He was also charged as a bail violator on the child abuse charges, with a hearing set for the same time as the review on the drug charges. Morales could face jail time as a bail violator for allegedly breaking the law while he was awaiting trial on the child abuse charges.
Detective Sgt. Matt Ryan, a spokesman for the police department, commended members of the Vice Unit for getting an armed drug dealer off the street.
With a loaded weapon and plenty of ammunition, Ryan said Morales was “ready to roll.”