Blown stop sign leads to cocaine trafficking charge

Boston man accused of possessing 246.23 grams of cocaine, more than $11K cash

LOWELL >> An unlicensed driver, pulled over for blowing through a stop sign in front of an unmarked police cruiser on Tuesday, was charged with cocaine trafficking after officers found more than 245 grams of the drug during the traffic stop, according to authorities.

A Lowell Police report states the driver of a Honda Civic drove through a stop sign “without even attempting to stop” at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Liberty and Powell streets, nearly striking another car. During the ensuing traffic stop, police said they learned that the driver of the Honda — identified as Rafael Candelario, 35, of Boston — did not have a driver’s license.

Police said Candelario insisted during the stop that his driver’s license was active, but he was unable to prove his claim.

During a background check, police said they discovered that Candelario had been charged “numerous times” for operating a motor vehicle without a license and operating after suspension/revocation.

Since Candelario was unlicensed, police said they made the decision to tow the car. While taking inventory of the vehicle, police said they found a shopping bag containing “a large quantity of packaged narcotics” believed to be cocaine. In total, police said they found a total of 246.23 grams of the drug that was packaged in a number of different quantities.

Police also alleged finding a large sum of cash in numerous denominations — ranging from $1 bills to $100 bills — on Candelario’s person and inside the car. The police report states that Candelario asked officers to count the pile of cash in front of him before it was seized.

“I attempted to conduct a count of the money in front of Candelario, but did not complete the count due to the large amount of money,” an officer stated in the report.

The money was eventually counted, and totaled $11,029, according to police. The money was attributed to illicit drug activity and seized by officers.

Candelario was arraigned on Wednesday in Lowell District Court on the charges of trafficking in 200 grams or more of cocaine, an offense that carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

Candelario was additionally charged with unlicensed operation of motor vehicle, and failure to stop/yield. He was held on a $15,000 cash bail, which was posted the same day.

Candelario is scheduled to return to court for a pretrial conference on March 20. He has yet to be assigned an attorney by the Committee for Public Counsel Services, which provides legal counsel to those declared indigent.

Follow Aaron Curtis on X, formerly known as Twitter, @aselahcurtis