Police/Court
Oak Bluffs police on Saturday arrested a Maine man for allegedly selling cocaine at downtown bars over the past few weeks. Oak Bluffs officers assigned to the Martha’s Vineyard Drug Task Force learned that Darren Bennett, 26, was selling cocaine at various downtown bars and prepared a search warrant based on their investigation.
From now through Sept. 3 the Oak Bluffs police department, along with the Massachusetts State Police and more then 240 other local police departments, will participate in a Labor Day program called Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest.
The Executive Office of Public Safety and Security has provided $725,000 in federal funding for the initiative.
Oak Bluffs police Chief Erik Blake said money from the program will be used to pay for extra police patrols on town roads over the long holiday weekend.
A 23-year-old West Tisbury woman was arrested on multiple drug charges on Saturday after she was reportedly caught with 60 grams of heroin she planned to bring to the Vineyard on the Island Queen ferry.
Lyndsey Gonsalves was charged with possession of heroin (subsequent offense) as well as distribution of and trafficking heroin after police caught her with approximately $20,000 worth of heroin in Falmouth. Ms. Gonsalves was accompanied by her three-year-old child at the time of her arrest, Falmouth police said.
Edgartown police responded to two major accidents this past week: one involving a pair of Harley-Davidson motorcycles and another involving a pair of bicycles. In both cases, one person involved in the accident was seriously injured and airlifted by helicopter to Boston-based hospitals.
An empty Cheetos bag and a baby’s diaper found during a routine traffic stop in West Tisbury earlier this year led to a grand jury indictment this week for an Island man suspected of trafficking cocaine.
David A. Perez, 27, of West Tisbury, was indicted in Dukes County Superior Court last Tuesday. He is being held in the Edgartown house of correction on $100,000 bail.
Chilmark police responded to a high number of motor vehicle and moped accidents over the past week, including a two-vehicle accident on Middle Road on Thursday that sent six people to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital.
Chilmark police chief Timothy Rich said the accident occurred just after 10 p.m. near the intersection of Tabor House Road when a 2005 Subaru Legacy driven by seasonal resident Donald Leopold, 18, crossed the center line and collided with a 1999 Volvo Station carrying seven occupants.