TEWKSBURY, MA -- When Tewksbury and Billerica Police, along with state and federal law enforcement officers, arrested three people and recovered large quantities of cocaine and fentanyl during an early morning raid on November 9, it was only the most recent high-profile drug bust at the Lodge at Ames Pond Apartment Complex on Ames Hill Drive. In the most recent arrest, Wilson Soto, 49, Christina Richardson, 48, and Soto's son, Yojanel Soto, 20, all of 412 Ames Hill Drive, were charged with trafficking fentanyl, trafficking over 200 grams of cocaine, and conspiracy to violate drug laws.

"The whole area of Andover Street (Rt. 133) by the Rt. 495 ramps as well as the areas by the ramps to Rt. 495 on Main Street and Woburn Street are hot spots for drug dealing because they are on the of pipeline from Lawrence," Tewksbury Police Chief Timothy Sheehan said. "The dealers get off the highway from Lawrence and make deals with those suffering from the disease of addiction all over those areas and, unfortunately, we get a lot of overdoses in cars and in the bathrooms of businesses in that area because the afflicted need to use the product as soon as its purchased." When police executed a search warrant last week, they recovered more than $8,000 in cash, 1,049 grams of cocaine and 644 grams of fentanyl when they executed a search warrant of the apartment. The drugs have an estimated street value of more than $100,000, according to the Middlesex District Attorney's office. When police entered the apartment, Richardson was holding a nine-month old baby.



But it's not the first time police have targeted dealers operating out of the complex, which bills itself as "your hillside haven" on its Website. In January 2016, Tewksbury Police assisted the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit in an investigation that led to two arrests and the seizure of what was believed to be a mix of fentanyl and heroin. Hilda Gandia, 42, of Lawrence, and Agustin Antonio Tejeda Ruis, 45, of Tewksbury, were charged in that bust. And one month later, in February, 2016 police ended up at the complex again while investigating a fatal overdose. Using a phone number on the victim's cellphone, police set up surveillance and arrested Junior Rodriguez, 34, of Brooklyn, NY, Julio Nieves-Padilla, 31, of Boston and Rhoderick Adino, 23, of Lawrence, for trafficking heroin over 18 grams, distribution of heroin, distribution of cocaine, possession with the intent to distribute cocaine and conspiracy.

Last year there were 13 fatal overdoses in Tewksbury, up from eight in 2016 and just one in all of 2013, according to the Massachusetts Department of Health. Like many police chiefs in Massachusetts, Sheehan has had his department focus on targetig dealers while trying to treat the end users with compassion. Tewksbury Police led the push to get selectmen to declare October Opioid Abuse Education Month, which included a vigil, informational sessions and training in the use of Narcan, the so-called overdose reversal drug.

"It's terrible and we really have to focus some attention on holding those dealers that aren't sick accountable for all the lives that have been lost and destroyed as a result of their multimillion dollar criminal ventures," Sheehan said. "They are wolves in sheep's clothing and until the consequences for the actions outweigh the profit we will have our back yards full of these miscreants who are profiting off the sick."

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