PD: Deadly drugs found in ‘shifty’ hiding spot
Cass Avenue car stop turns up fentanyl stash, police say
WOONSOCKET – A Fall River man is held without bail after a routine motor vehicle stop Friday led to the seizure of 40 grams of fentanyl, a powerful opioid linked to multiple overdose fatalities in the region during the last several years.
Jose R. Santiago, 21, 72 Marsh St., is charged with possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver; possession of more than an ounce of fentanyl; and driving while in possession of a controlled substance.
Patrol Officer Michael R. Theroux said the arrest came after he saw Santiago make an illegal left turn from Wood Avenue onto Cass Avenue shortly before noon. After the officer stopped the vehicle near Landmark Medical Center, Theroux could provide no identification other than a Social Security card and was unable to supply paperwork showing that his gray Toyota Scion was registered.
He told the police he was on his way to his sister’s house to bring her some food, but there was no food in the car.
He told police he’d been arrested in Fall River recently, but when they checked with their counterparts in Fall River, those officers were unable to confirm that they’d had any contact with anyone who matched Santiago’s data.
But perhaps the strangest thing that happened while police had him pulled over was the arrival of a second vehicle. Police said there were two individuals in a red Toyota that stopped alongside the Scion, including a woman who told Theroux she owned the gray car, that Santiago was her brother and that his name was Ricky. When Theroux told the woman Santiago told him his name was Jose, the unidentified woman told the officer, “He’s not my real brother.”
On Theroux’s instructions, the red Toyota eventually left the area, but not before Santiago gave the male occupant of the vehicle $40 in cash.
With questions about Santiago’s identification still open, however, police
decided to take him into custody pending further inquiry, including a fingerprint database scan.
Prior to impounding the Scion, Theroux and other officers initiated a routine search of the vehicle, at which point they noticed that the area where the gear shifter juts out of the console appeared to have been tampered with. The rubber “boot” that normally prevents debris from falling into the mechanism was too small – so small the officers could peer down into the opening that holds the shift lever.
When Theroux looked inside, he saw a black satchel that appeared to contain multiple, thumbnail-size glassine bags containing a white powdery substance.
When he removed the satchel and counted them, there were 71 individually wrapped bags holding a combined 40 grams of powder, which later field-tested positive for fentanyl.
Santiago, whose ID was later confirmed through his fingerprints by the FBI, denied the narcotics belonged to him, according to police reports.
He was booked and later arraigned in Sixth District Court, where he was ordered held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutions pending a review hearing, according to the Department of Corrections inmate database.