Two people arrested on weapons, drug charges after responding to city drug-trafficking hotspot

WOONSOCKET — Two people were arrested on drug and weapons charges Saturday in a Cass Avenue parking lot that’s long been a source of complaints about drug-trafficking.

Phattakone L. Hedquist, 31, of 155 Rodman St., was charged with possession of marijuana with the intent to deliver. Also, Joshua Michael Alger, 25, of 380 Blackstone St., was charged with possession of a non-criminal quantity of marijuana, as well as possession of an illegal knife.

Alger and Hedquist arrived in the parking lot in separate vehicles, police said, but when officers arrived Hedquist was sitting in a car with Alger and several of his relatives, including two children under the age of 5 – and two dogs. The driver was identified as Lexus Beals-Alger, 23, who was cited for failing to properly secure one of the children in the back seat.

When police asked the occupants of the Jeep if they had any weapons or drugs in the vehicle, Alger admitted there was a BB gun in the center console. But after a search, police said they also found 5.2 grams of marijuana, a hunting knife and a smaller folding knife in a door compartment next to him in the front passenger seat. All, including the gun, were seized by the police.

Police also found three individually wrapped bags of marijuana containing a total of 2.87 ounces of the drug in the rear passenger seat that allegedly belonged to Hedquist, who was seated next to the two children.

When Officer Justin Mowry found two of the bags under the seat near Hedquist, one of the children sitting beside him spontaneously uttered, “that man that was sitting next to me pushed that under the seat,” the policeman reported. Police said the children also told them they thought the green stuff in the bags was broccoli.

The parking lot in question is adjacent to the CVS Health at 1054 Cass Ave. and mainly serves the pharmacy, although patrons of Kay’s Restaurant, across the street, also use a portion of it.

The lot also abuts Dana Street, where one neighbor has appeared at City Council meetings on multiple occasions in the past to decry the location as a frequent meetup spot for drug dealers and their customers.

Officer Michael Heroux’s report of Hedquist’s and Alger’s arrests summarizes some of the background.

“It should be noted,” he said, “that this parking lot has been a common area for narcotics transactions over the past couple of years, to which numerous arrests have been made.”

While the charge against Hedquist is felony that can only be resolved in court, the amount of marijuana that Alger allegedly possessed is too small to be considered criminal. But he was issued a civil citation which he must answer at the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal.

Because the children were in a car with drugs and weapons, the police said, they also notified the state Department for Children, Youth and Families of the incident.