DPW Workers Arrested After Making Alleged Drug Deal Near City Hall

Kevin Moriarty (left), Erik Frasca and Steve Allen appeared in Haverhill District Court on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018. (WHAV News photograph)

Kevin Moriarty (left), Erik Frasca and Steven Allen appeared in Haverhill District Court on Thursday, Aug. 30. (WHAV News photograph)

The two highway department employees arrested early Thursday morning were taken into custody following an alleged drug deal near Haverhill City Hall, WHAV has learned.

Appearing in Haverhill District Court Thursday afternoon for an arraignment before Judge Patricia Dowling were Department of Public Works employees Steven Allen, of 713 North Broadway, and Erik Frasca, of 23 Verndale St., along with former city worker Kevin Moriarty, of 107 Chadwick Road.

Dowling set Moriarty’s bail at $1,000 cash, and released Allen and Frasca on personal recognizance, with a warning to stay out of trouble for 90 days. The trio next appears in court on September 26.

Their court appearance came nearly seven hours after their 8:50 a.m. arrest, following what police said was an alleged “hand-to-hand drug transaction.” In a police report filed by arresting officer Detective Daniel McDonald, 50-year-old Moriarty was observed parked in a handicapped space in the side lot of City Hall around 7:30 a.m. and going in and out of the building several times.

Shortly thereafter, Allen—clad in his bright yellow construction vest—walked over to Moriarty’s truck and “within seconds of the two meeting, both went separate ways,” McDonald wrote. Allen then returned to the passenger seat of a white highway truck allegedly driven by Frasca. Police followed Frasca and Allen to a construction site on South Elm Street, where the two men were arrested.

“Both looked at me in disbelief as if this was not reality,” McDonald said.

Police recovered a plastic vial allegedly containing two broken pieces of an orange pill said to be suboxone from Allen, along with two pieces of a round blue pill believed to be oxycodone from the armrest of Frasca’s truck. The men were charged with oxycodone possession and conspiracy to violate drug laws.

Moriarty was taken into custody on Middlesex Street in Bradford near the Roma restaurant. Moriarty had six small round blue pills believed to be Oxycodone on him at the time of his arrest, police said. They also seized $83. He was arrested for distribution of a class B substance to city workers, possession with intent to distribute and conspiracy to violate drug laws.

“This is what I get for helping out a friend,” Moriarty said at the time of his arrest.

Said to be in chronic pain since a 2007 industrial accident left him disabled, Moriarty told police he did not sell the pill to Allen, but “gave it to him as a friend.”

According to Moriarty, Allen gave him $23—which he was “owed”—and Moriarty gave him the oxycodone pill. Frasca denied “any involvement” in the drug deal, police said.

Following news of the trio’s arrest, Mayor James J. Fiorentini told WHAV the City of Haverhill has a zero tolerance policy for such behavior. “We expect all of our employees to have the highest standard of conduct. This is particularly the case with city employees who have to operate heavy equipment,” Fiorentini said.

Allen was fired immediately and Frasca will soon face a termination hearing, Fiorentini said.