HARTFORD -- An undercover narcotics operation lead to the arrest of 18 people and the seizure of a large quantity of drugs and cash on Thursday.
Police confiscated 1397 bags of heroin, 87 bags of powder cocaine, 16 bags of PCP, 3 ounce vial of liquid PCP, $5033.39 in cash and narcotics packaging materials in an operation that was prompted by complaints of street level narcotic sales in the area of 109 Franklin Ave.
The following people were charged:
- Roger Moody, 32, of Hartford, was charged with Criminal Trespass
- Mark Nance, 34, of Hartford, was charged with Criminal Trespass
- James Wnuk, 24, of Berlin, was charged with Criminal Trespass
- Irvin Rivera, 38, of Hartford, was charged with Criminal Trespass
- Kerry Scanlan, 19, of Avon, was charged with Criminal Trespass
- Miguel Rodriguez, 46, of New Britain, was charged with Criminal Trespass
- Luis Lugo, 33, of Hartford, was charged with Criminal Trespass and Possession of Hallucenogenics
- Matthew Deprey, 18, of Bristol, was charged with Criminal Trespass
- Thomas Kobieroski, 44, of Plainville, was charged with Criminal Trespass
- Brittany Vargas, 26, of Hartford, was charged with Criminal Trespass
- Tasha Delgado, 28, of Hartford, was charged with Criminal Trespass
- Vanessa Nixon, 20, of Colchester, was charged with Criminal Trespass
- Nicholas Digioia, 44, of Hartford, was charged with Possession of Narcotics
- Nicole Raboin, 23, of Bristol was charged with Possession narcotics
- Mario Trapanese, 38, of Terryville, was charged with Possession narcotics
- Adam Pinette, 35, of Torrington, was charged with Possession narcotics
- Michael Reynolds, 52, of Middletown, was charged with Possession narcotics and Criminal trespass
Hartford Police Deputy Chief Brian Foley said several of the people arrested are users. They hail from several towns outside of Hartford, something that's not surprising to the substance abuse experts at Rushford Behavioral Health Services.
Pat Rehmer, senior vice president for the Hartford Healthcare's Behavioral Health Network (which runs Rushford clinics), said the spread of opiate addiction into the suburbs has sped up in the last year.
"This is no longer an urban inner city problem," she said. "This is in every town and city in Connecticut."
The BHN opened up a substance abuse clinic in Glastonbury about 6 months ago and it's seeing heavy traffic -- mostly young adults and middle-aged women, Rehmer said.
"These are not programs that are floundering, I mean, they can barely keep up," she said. "In Glastonbury in fact, we need more clinicians."
Rehmer said she is also in talks to push into Cheshire and northeastern Connecticut.
"You get your nurses, your doctors that get into trouble. We need to have facilities where people can go all across the state, not just in the cities," she said, adding that having clinics in the suburbs not only takes out travel time, but oftentimes is more comfortable for people who don't want to attend clinics in more urban areas.
"We're trying to create as much access as we can to treatment throughout the state," she said.
Police said that can only help in their long, continued fight in the drug war plaguing the state and country.
