MICHAEL A BAPTISTA Arrest

Members of the Somerville Police Department Drug Control Unit initiated a drug investigation of Mr. Michael Baptista and his alleged role in the ongoing distribution of Heroin. The alleged distribution occurs from his residence located at 73 Dane Street, Somerville, MA 02143.  

 

At the conclusion of this drug investigation, a search warrant application was requested by me at the Somerville District Court on Friday, August 14, 2015. The search warrant (1510-SW-0049) was granted by the court authorizing the search of the following:

 

#1- The residence of 73 Dane Street, Somerville, MA 02143 (search warrant docket # 1510SW0049).

#2- The person of Michael Baptista (search warrant docket # 1510SW0049).

 

On Saturday, August 15, 2015, Detective Sergeant Dan Rego, along with Detectives Doug Brioso, Guerdy Legros, Walter Collette, Michael Capasso, and I conducted surveillance around the area of 73 Dane Street. Also waiting at a nearby street was K-9 Officer Tim Sullivan and K9 Jax. Officer Sullivan was utilizing a fully marked police cruiser. At approximately 10:40 A.M. observations were made of Mr. Baptista leaving his residence via the front right side door. Mr. Baptista looked around the area from his front porch then began to walk north on Dane Street from his residence towards Skehan Street. Subsequent to Mr. Baptista leaving his residence, Detective Capasso observed a brown Chevy SUV which remained in the middle of the road on Skehan Street, just before Hanson Street. This brown Chevy was found to be a Chevy Suburban. Surveillance of Mr. Baptista was maintained and observations were made of Mr. Baptista travelling down Skehan Street and approaching the brown Chevy. Detective Capasso observed Mr. Baptista reach into the driver’s side window of the brown Chevy SUV for approximately ten seconds. Detective Capasso believed that Mr. Baptista and the operator of the brown Chevy engaged in a street level narcotic transaction. Upon completion of this transaction, Mr. Baptista began to walk back up Skehan Street onto Dane Street, and towards his residence. 

 

At this time, Detective Capasso and Brioso followed the brown Chevy. They then radioed marked units to initiate a motor vehicle stop of the brown Chevy to conduct a threshold inquiry. At that time, Detective Collette, Sergeant Rego, and I approached and detained Mr. Baptista just prior to him entering his residence. Mr. Baptista gave no resistance to our efforts to stop him. Mr. Baptista was informed of, and immediately shown a copy of the search warrant. He was then read his rights pursuant to Miranda from a card I keep in my wallet. Mr. Baptista stated he understood all his rights. I asked Mr. Baptista who he had just met with. Mr. Baptista replied, “This guy that owed me forty dollars.” I then asked Mr. Baptista if he gave anything to the driver. Mr. Baptista stated that he did not give the driver anything. Inside of Mr. Baptista’s front left pocket were two twenty dollar bills. 

 

Along with Mr. Baptista, Detectives proceeded into the residence through the right side door, the same door he exited from earlier. Access into the residence was gained utilizing a key which Mr. Baptista had in his pocket. He was walked upstairs by Detectives as well as Officer Rob Pasqualino who had now arrived on scene. We entered the third floor apartment through an unlocked door. While inside the apartment, Mr. Baptista’s father, who had been home the entire morning, was shown a copy of the search warrant as well. Mr. Baptista and his father remained seated at the kitchen table as we awaited the drug sniffing K9 to assist in the execution of the search warrant.

 

The brown Chevy was subsequently stopped with the assistance of Sergeant Mike Kiely and Officer James McNally, who were working a paid detail in full uniform nearby. Detective Capasso stated that the operator of the brown Chevy was found with Heroin. The operator stated he had just purchased the Heroin.   

 

Before executing a search of the apartment, State Police Trooper Tom Janeczak and K9 Tank did a preliminary K9 search of the residence. Before K9 Tank began his search, an amount of packaged Heroin was found on top of the wooden drawers, inside of a closet, located in the front bedroom of home directly off of the living room area. Also next to the packaged Heroin were empty blue glassine baggies and a digital scale. I would note that the Heroin found on the operator of the brown Chevy was packaged with the same blue glassine baggies found in Baptista’s bedroom. This bedroom is believed to be occupied by Mr. Baptista. Mr. Baptista’s personal photographs, cell phone, signed job application, Passport, and other personal items were found in this bedroom. During the K9 search, K9 Tank alerted on the area of Mr. Baptista’s closet, on top of the drawers. This is the same area where the packaged heroin was found. Trooper Janeczak also found two cans inside of Mr. Baptista’s drawer containing false tops. These false top cans are commonly used by drug distributors to conceal narcotics. These are used in an attempt to conceal narcotics inside a vehicle, house, or person without being seen in plain view. The cans are realistic in weight, color, and size. 

 

Mr. Baptista was transported to Somerville Police Headquarters via marked unit 200, Officer Ducasse, where he was booked by Lieutenant Lavey.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

 

Detective Fernando Cicerone #279