Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog
Police officers in Duxbury, Massachusetts have arrested a man from Pembroke, Massachusetts after they discovered thousands of dollars and a variety of drugs stored inside the man’s vehicle. Officers in the area received a report of a vehicle crash and were responding on scene when they made their discovery. The call came in on Thursday just after midnight.
The crash occurred in the area of an intersection between Church Street and Tremont Street in Duxbury. Upon arriving on scene, law enforcement officials discovered that the vehicle in question had struck several sign posts before coming to a stop near the intersection. Responding police officers have indicated that based on the evidence immediately visible at the scene, they determined they had grounds for an arrest of the operator of the vehicle. The operator of the vehicle was later identified as 23 year old James Bako-Berry of Pembroke, Massachusetts. He was officially arrested at the time for driving under the influence of alcohol, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, an open container of alcohol and a stop sign violation. There were no reported injuries, to the driver or otherwise, pertaining to the arrest of this particular individual.
Police also conducted an inspection of the vehicle following Bako-Berry’s arrest and discovered various quantities of illegal drugs and packaging materials, as well as over $20,000 in cash. Following the findings within the vehicle, police have additionally charged James Bako-Berry with drug related crimes. Those additional charges now include: two counts of possession with intent to distribute a Class B substance, possession with intent to distribute a Class C substance, and possession with intent to distribute a Class D substance. Duxbury Police Lt. Lewis Chubb stated that this was a “pretty significant seizure” for their department and that based on their findings, they made the decision to charge Bako-Berry with alleged drug dealing.
Duxbury Police Officers have stated that preliminary tests on the drugs seized during the search of Bako-Berry’s vehicle tested positive for cocaine, methamphetamine, hashish (a cannabis product), and marijuana.
James Bako-Berry was later arraigned at Plymouth District Court on Thursday afternoon to face all the traffic and drug related charges against him at this time. He pleaded innocent to the charges and is currently being held on bail at the Plymouth County Jail. A judge has set the bail amount for approximately $2,500 but Bako-Berry was not able to pay the sum at that time. His pretrial hearing for the matter is set to take place on October 21st of this year.
Bako-Berry is not a stranger to the criminal justice system. He was previously arrested in 2011 and found guilty of aggravated assault in battery in his hometown of Pembroke. He received a six month suspended sentence and one year of probation following the verdict in this case. No word has been given yet on how exactly his previous indictment will affect the judge’s ruling on this particular matter.
Additional information may be found at the following links: http://959watd.com/blog/2015/08/duxbury-police-seize-drugs-money-after-car-crash/
http://www.whdh.com/story/29843854/duxbury-police-arrest-pembroke-man-on-drug-possession-charges
http://pembroke.wickedlocal.com/article/20150820/NEWS/150829015
