Police: New Bedford man arrested after drugs found near sleeping children – News – southcoasttoday.com

Curt Brown @CurtBrown_SCT

NEW BEDFORD — Law enforcement officials found fentanyl within two feet of a mattress where children were sleeping in a McGurk Street apartment Tuesday and arrested a city man on drug and ammunition charges, state police said.

Due to the proximity of the children to the fentanyl, a state police trooper requested that a representative of the state’s child protection agency respond to the McGurk Street apartment in New Bedford’s South End to assess the children’s welfare, according to a news release from the state police.

Gang Units from the state police and the New Bedford Police Department, along with state police detectives from the Bristol County District Attorney’s office and a deputy from the Bristol County Sheriff’s Department, were investigating fentanyl distribution by the suspect — Oscar Ramos-Torres, 30, state police said.

The discovery of the fentanyl in close proximity to the children occurred when police executed a search warrant Tuesday at the McGurk Street apartment, state police said.

Police made a forced entry into the apartment after they knocked, announced they were executing a search warrant, received no reply and heard “scurrying” inside the unit. state police said.

Upon entry, police found Ramos-Torres standing in a bedroom with his girlfriend, their two young children lying on a mattress, state police said. A bag containing 8.7 grams of fentanyl was found within two feet of the mattress. The narcotic tested positive for fentanyl.

In a second bedroom, police found a work bench which Ramos-Torres used to prepare the fentanyl for sale, state police said. On the workbench was a plastic container with about 77 grams of a white powder, which was tested and also found to be fentanyl.

Next to the container of fentanyl were a digital scale, a box of plastic sandwich bags, and cut-off baggies consistent with the manner in which drugs are packaged for street-level sale, state police said.

Police also found a a safe under the workbench, which contained “several thousand dollars” in cash and 26 suboxone strips, state police said. In the basement, which was used by Ramos-Torres for storage, a state police trooper found a clear plastic bag containing 10 rounds of ammunition.

The fentanyl, Suboxone strips and ammunition were seized as evidence as was $6,245 in cash suspected of being proceeds from the illegal sale of narcotics, state police said.

Ramos-Torres was booked at the state police barracks in Dartmouth on charges of trafficking in fentanyl over 80 grams; possession of Suboxone with intent to distribute; and unlawful possession of ammunition.

In addition to the new charges, Ramos-Torres is on probation out of New Bedford District Court, the result of a previous arrest for possessing fentanyl with intent to distribute. 

Follow Curt Brown on Twitter @CurtBrown_SCT.