PITTSFIELD - An undercover police officer testified yesterday that he purchased just over a gram of marijuana from an 18-year-old Otis man - - one of 19 people arrested in a controversial drug sweep in Great Barrington in 2004. Mitchell Lawrence, of West Center Road, faces single counts of distribution of marijuana, possession of marijuana and committing a drug violation within a drug-free school zone stemming from the alleged drug sale. The school-zone charge, the center of the controversy, carries a minimum two-year jail sentence if the drug sale took place within 1,000 feet of a school or park. The undercover operation from January to September 2004 led to the arrest of Lawrence and 18 others accused of selling cocaine, marijuana and other drugs from a Great Barrington parking lot. [continues 501 words]
PITTSFIELD - Two men snared in a controversial Great Barrington school-zone drug sting last year appeared before Berkshire Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Ford yesterday. One was sentenced to five years in jail and the other pleaded guilty to a charge of heroin possession. Jose Ramos Jr., 20, of Spruce Street, Great Barrington, received two separate sentences of 2 1/2 years in the Berkshire House of Correction after a jury found him guilty yesterday of distribution of cocaine, committing a drug violation within a drug-free school zone and conspiracy to violate drug laws. Michael P. Shea, 22, of Wellington Place, Boston, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of heroin yesterday. [continues 779 words]
LANESBORO -- The Lanesboro Police Department's newest officer weighs about 70 pounds, gnaws on his favorite rope toy while on duty and flaunts his shaggy brown-black coat at friendly strangers. Nitro, the department's 14-month-old German shepherd, just completed five weeks of tracking and advanced narcotics training with his partner, Officer James A. Rathbun, at the Schenectady County Sheriff's Department in New York. He is now certified with the North American Working Police Dog Association and the New York Department of Criminal Justice Services' Bureau of Municipal Police standards. [continues 458 words]
