LAWRENCE, MA -- A Lawrence man is facing drug charges after his 11-year-old son called the police after rummaging through his father's luggage and found a large quantity of heroin and fentanyl, said Lawrence Chief James Fitzpatrick.

Police responded on Wednesday to a home on Ferry Street after the suspect's son reported that he and his 13-year-old cousin had found drugs in his father's belongings and had that he had seen him conducting a drug deal earlier, according to police. An initial investigation, which included a search of luggage belonging to the suspect, yielded 212 grams of heroin and fentanyl packed in multiple plastic bags, as well as several empty bags that typically are used for packaging drugs for sale, police allege.



Police estimated street value of the drugs seized at approximately $8,500. Police issued a warrant for the boy's father, Yamil Mercado, 40, who remained at large for 24 hours before turning himself into police at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

Police notified the state Department of Children and Families after the incident. The boy is now being cared for by his grandmother, police said. "I commend this young man for being brave enough to come forward and report that these dangerous substances were in his home," Fitzpatrick said.

"It is frightening to consider that the drugs the boy found are strong enough to cause serious harm to full grown adults, merely by being in their presence, and to consider what could have happened had he not immediately called for help from law enforcement," he said.

Mercado will be arraigned Friday in Lawrence District Court on drug and child endangerment charges.