Massachusetts Law Enforcement Network

Massachusetts Police News, Information and Discussions on MassCops

Posted by: DodgeRam

State Trooper Accused Of Running Oxycontin Ring

(WBZ) BOSTON A State Police trooper and retired trooper have been arrested and charged with running an Oxycontin ring.

Trooper Mark Lemieux, 50, of Norfolk, worked undercover for the Bristol County drug task force in New Bedford. He's been suspended without pay.

Joseph Cantanese, of Sandwich, was also arrested. He's a 22-year veteran who retired from the State Police force in 2004.

They are charged with drug possession and distribution, as well as conspiracy.

Lemieux's girlfriend, Tara Drummey, was also charged.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

---

Posted by: no$.10

http://www.pr-inside.com/four-indivi...to-r126839.htm

He was a good guy and a great cop...what the hell are guys thinking when they get involved in this crap. Very disturbing.

---

Posted by: Mikey682

What the fuck!!!!

---

Posted by: JoninNH

Lets wait until the verdict is read... but shit, that is one hell of an inditement

---

Posted by: youareadolt

Quote:

Originally Posted by no$.10 http://www.pr-inside.com/four-indivi...to-r126839.htm He was a good guy and a great cop...what the hell are guys thinking when they get involved in this crap. Very disturbing.

umm what??? did you read the charges???

---

Posted by: kwflatbed

This is just a warning if the crap starts this thread will be locked.
Remember this is a public forum.

---

Posted by: Sniper

Wow.

---

Posted by: 94c

In order to do good drug cases you need an informant that trusts you and takes a liking to you. You actually have to become close to them in order to build the trust that is needed in any relationship.

The minute you cross the line and go into business with them, they OWN you and will sell you out to save their own hides. Whitey Bulger did it with great success.

This is what organized criminals mean when they say, "keep your friends close and your enemies closer." The enemy being law enforcement.

---

Posted by: Polizei

Well, lets hope that an "informant" fabricated these charges and a DA bit. I hope the charges aren't true. If they are true then these two should have the book thrown at them.

---

Posted by: 94c

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polizei Well, lets hope that an "informant" fabricated these charges and a DA bit. I hope the charges aren't true. If they are true then these two should have the book thrown at them.

and they used mannequins as props.

---

Posted by: kwflatbed

DA to review arrested state trooper’s drug cases

NEW BEDFORD — Bristol County District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter and Massachusetts State Police plan to review 10 to 20 open drug cases to determine if any were compromised by a state trooper arrested Wednesday for his alleged role in an OxyContin ring.
State Trooper Mark V. Lemieux, 49, of Norfolk faces charges in U.S. District Court that he, his ex-partner in the state police, his live-in girlfriend and a hired enforcer ran the ring from June to the present.
He was a member of the Bristol County District Attorney’s Drug Task Force from 2002 until December. He lost his position in New Bedford when he was not offered a position by Mr. Sutter, who had just been elected to office. Since January 2006, Mr. Lemieux had been serving as a state trooper in Boston.
The retired state trooper, Joseph M. Catanese of Sandwich, was Mr. Lemieux’s partner in the Bristol County Drug Task Force from 2002 until his retirement in 2004.
“All of the open cases that he was involved in are being individually reviewed,” said district attorney spokesman Gregg Miliote. “If we think for any reason that these offenses hinder these cases we inherited, we will take any and all actions necessary.”
Mr. Miliote said the internal investigation will focus on active cases only, for now.
“We’ll let the facts of this play out,” he said. “We’ll pay close attention to what happens with this (case).” He made a point of noting that the officers worked for Mr. Sutter’s predecessor, Paul F. Walsh Jr.
Mr. Miliote said the internal investigation would not focus on closed cases that involved Mr. Lemieux or Mr. Catanese, unless the investigation into the active cases warranted widening the investigation.
A spokesman for the Massachusetts State Police directed all comment to Mr. Sutter’s office.
The chief public defender for Bristol County, attorney Alan Zwirblis, scheduled a meeting today to discuss the possible ramifications of Mr. Lemieux’s arrest with the public defenders on his staff.
Mr. Zwirblis said the public defender’s office will comb through all of its cases, searching for any involvement of Mr. Lemieux.
“We’re going to go through and see if he had popped up any of (the cases),” he said. “Certainly, we’re going to explore it.”

Full Story: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/.../NEWS/70517007

---

Posted by: PBC FL Cop

Saturday, June 2, 2007

Judge sets conditions for release of troopers

Pair held on drug and extortion charges

By Lee Hammel TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
lhammel@telegram.com

WORCESTER— Magistrate Judge Timothy S. Hillman yesterday proposed conditions in U.S. District Court for the release of a state trooper and a retired trooper charged in a drug and extortion conspiracy.

Trooper Mark V. Lemieux of Norwood and retired Trooper Joseph M. Catanese of Sandwich will remain in pretrial detention until arrangements can be made to meet the terms of release that Judge Hillman set.

The conditions include posting a $200,000 secured bond, third-party guarantees, electronic monitoring, no contact with witnesses or fellow defendants, and using only one cell phone and one landline telephone, with the government permitted to monitor those.

Judge Hillman also barred Trooper Lemieux from continuing to live with a fourth defendant, Tara I. Drummey, whose relationship with the trooper was deteriorating prior to their arrest May 16.

In proposing conditions to release Trooper Lemieux and Mr. Catanese, Judge Hillman made no mention of releasing a third defendant, Patrick McCarthy of Yarmouth, whom Mr. Catanese allegedly recruited to collect drug debts for Trooper Lemieux’s drug-dealing informant. Ms. Drummey, who allegedly bought and sold OxyContin for an informant of Trooper Lemieux, has already been released on conditions.

Judge Hillman said he realized that releasing Trooper Lemieux and Mr. Catanese comes over the strenuous objection of Assistant U.S. Attorney William F. Bloomer, who argued earlier this week that they are too dangerous to be set free and they should not be treated differently from non-law enforcement defendants. Mr. Bloomer did not indicate whether he will appeal the release of the two men.

The defendants were not in court yesterday, but Judge Hillman warned their lawyers that they would quickly be back in court if there was any deviation from the conditions he will set.

“These guys have one foot in Wyatt (Detention Center) and one foot on a banana peel, as far as I am concerned,” he said.

On Tuesday, federal defender Timothy G. Watkins argued for bail for Mr. McCarthy, saying his only crime was “yelling at people” to collect drug debts at the direction of two people whom he knew to be longtime state troopers.

Mr. McCarthy, whose criminal record includes assault and battery convictions, introduced himself to Trooper Lemieux’s confidential informant as “Patrick, my friends call me ‘Pain’ ’cause I’m Pain all the time,” according to an affidavit by state police Lt. Thomas J. Coffey.

According to a taped conversation with an undercover New Hampshire state trooper whom Mr. McCarthy was told was a drug dealer who had a drug debt to Trooper Lemieux’s informant, Mr. McCarthy said, “I’ll cut you … ear to ear and I’ll drop you out in the … parking lot. I don’t care, OK?”

At one point, on March 23, Trooper Lemieux called his informant — telling the informant in a recorded conversation that he and Ms. Drummey were in the funeral procession for her mother, who died from an apparent drug overdose — and asked whether the informant “would be able to take care of her,” meaning front money for Ms. Drummey to fly to Florida to buy more OxyContin, according to Lt. Coffey.

Paul V. Kelly, Trooper Lemieux’s lawyer, said “snippets” of tape played in court do not reflect the complexity of the relationship between Trooper Lemieux and this “drug-dealing sleazeball of a confidential witness.”

---

Posted by: Sniper

Quote:

Originally Posted by PBC FL Cop Saturday, June 2, 2007 Judge sets conditions for release of troopers Judge Hillman said he realized that releasing Trooper Lemieux and Mr. Catanese comes over the strenuous objection of Assistant U.S. Attorney William F. Bloomer, who argued earlier this week that they are too dangerous to be set free and they should not be treated differently from non-law enforcement defendants. Mr. Bloomer did not indicate whether he will appeal the release of the two men.

I Agree !!!!!

---

Posted by: dcs2244

If he was treated like a "non-law enforcement" person, he'd already have a CWOF and been sent on his way...

</IMG>

---

Posted by: 94c

Not many CWOF's at the Federal level unless he has something interesting to share.

---

vBulletin Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Limited.
vB Easy Archive Final ©2000 - 2008 - Created by Stefan "Xenon" Kaeser