Police recover 60 grams of fentanyl after approaching suspicious car | Local News

BEVERLY — A Salem man was ordered held on $25,000 cash bail Monday as he faces charges of trafficking in fentanyl, a potent synthetic opiate that has been blamed for many opiate overdose deaths. 

Andy Gonzalez, 18, of 6 Looney Ave., allegedly had 60 grams of fentanyl, in three small bundles tucked inside a Burberry cologne box when police arrested him early Friday evening in the parking lot of the Hannah Village on Conant Street. 

He pleaded not guilty to charges of fentanyl trafficking and driving a vehicle with tinted windows at his arraignment Monday in Salem District Court. 

The amount of fentanyl recovered was more than two ounces of the drug. 

A second man, Andrew Drinkwater, 36, is also expected to face charges in connection with the case, according to a police report. 

Police had first spotted Gonzalez sitting in an Acura with dark tinted windows in a parking lot near the Walgreens on Dodge Street around 5:30 p.m. 

They noticed that the car was parked in an area near Route 128 that is frequently used for drug transactions, as well as near a pharmacy, which, the detectives said in their report, could have been a target for a holdup. 

Then they watched the Acura pull out of the lot and travel across Conant Street to the Hannah Village apartment complex. 

There, a man they recognized as Drinkwater pulled up in a truck. 

Drinkwater then recognized the officers, they noted. 

Police noticed a large bundle of cash sticking out of the pocket of Gonzalez’s hooded sweatshirt. Gonzalez said he and Drinkwater — who, police note, was wearing pajama pants and fuzzy slippers — were about to go shopping on Newbury Street in Boston for “Gucci, Prada and Burberry” items, and then to dinner. 

Police did find one Burberry item — the cologne box — which contained the three bundles of fentanyl. 

They also found a total of $5,234 in cash, a knife and two iPhones. 

A status hearing in Gonzalez’s case is set for June 5.  

Courts reporter Julie Manganis can be reached at 978-338-2521, by email at jmanganis@salemnews.com or on Twitter at @SNJulieManganis. 

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