Jury convicts man of tossing heroin from car during Blue Route chase

NORRISTOWN » An Allentown man was convicted of drug-related charges in connection with an incident along Route 476 in Plymouth during which he tossed bricks of heroin from a vehicle in which he was a passenger at the time of a chase by police.

Enrique Martinez-Torres, 36, of the 600 block of 11th Street, was convicted by a jury in Montgomery County Court of charges of possession with intent to deliver heroin, conspiracy and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the November 2017 incident along Route 476, or the Blue Route, in Plymouth.

The jury deliberated about two hours before reaching a verdict after hearing testimony during a two-day trial.

Judge William R. Carpenter, who presided over the trial, deferred sentencing so that court officials can complete a background investigation report about Martinez-Torres. The judge remanded Martinez-Torres to the county jail without bail to await his sentencing hearing.

Martinez-Torres was a passenger in a 2004 Acura vehicle operated by Luis Alberto Ortiz DeJesus.

DeJesus, 30, also of the 600 block of 11th Street, Allentown, previously was sentenced to 24 to 96 months in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to charges of possession with intent to deliver heroin and fleeing and eluding police in connection with the incident. That sentence was part of a plea agreement accepted by Judge Carpenter.

According to trial testimony and court documents, an investigation began about 2 p.m. Nov. 25, 2017, when state police at Philadelphia attempted to stop the Acura vehicle, operated by DeJesus, traveling northbound on Route 476 for alleged motor vehicle violations. The vehicle eventually pulled over onto the right shoulder of the highway.

However, when the trooper exited his patrol car the Acura “took off at a high rate of speed” and veered across several lanes of I-476 “in a reckless manner” and then traveled in excess of 90 mph in a 55 mph speed zone, according to the criminal complaint.

As the trooper followed, he “observed the passenger of the suspect vehicle begin throwing numerous blue packages out of the front passenger window, the packaging of which I recognized based on my training and experiences as a law enforcement officer, as consistent with bricks of heroin,” according to the arrest affidavit.

The vehicle subsequently exited Route 476 at Plymouth Road and traveled the wrong way, westbound in the eastbound lanes of Plymouth Road, according to the criminal complaint.

“Bearing in mind the reckless behavior of the occupants of the suspect vehicle and fearing for the safety of the motoring public I successfully effectuated a pit maneuver to bring the vehicle pursuit to a safe end,” state police Trooper Eric Spillane alleged in the arrest affidavit, adding the Acura came to a stop facing eastbound in the westbound lanes of Plymouth Road.

DeJesus and MartinezTorres exited the vehicle and were taken into custody, court papers indicate.

Jurors appeared riveted as they watched a videotape of the car chase that was played for them on a large projection screen in the courtroom.

After taking DeJesus and Martinez-Torres into custody, troopers fanned out along Route 476, canvassing the right shoulder between mile markers 19.3 and 19.6 and located eight bricks of heroin, according to the criminal complaint. A state police K9 also was used to sniff for narcotics in the area and located two additional suspected bricks of heroin on the right shoulder of the highway.

The investigation determined that the suspected bricks of heroin contained a total of 1,400 individual packages of heroin.

“Based on my training and experiences as a law enforcement officer specializing in interdiction and narcotics use and sales, heroin packaged in this manner and in this amount is meant for sales/distribution,” Spillane alleged.