State Police, conducting a wellness check last Thursday on a driver parked along a guardrail at an Interstate 495 rest stop in Haverhill, discovered a Maine man with a loaded gun and what appeared to be heroin and other drugs.
State Police troopers out of the Newbury barracks arrested 34-year-old Robert Rutty of Limerick, Maine, after first spotting two bags of brown powder believed to be heroin in plain site on the car’s dashboard. Trooper Mark Thomas was the first to see a Hyundai Santa Fe parked and idling at the rest area on I- 495 north in Haverhill. Rutty obeyed orders to leave the car, troopers said, but “became very restless and agitated and started walking around and appeared to be frantically trying to conceal his hands.”
Rutty refused to sit and then attempted to run. Thomas succeeded in grabbing the man and lowering him to the ground. Joined by Trooper Joseph Lamusta, they said they also noticed Rutty trying to hide one of his hands. Lamusta noticed a handgun with a green laser, later identified as a loaded Stoeger STR-9, where the struggle took place.
Haverhill Police conducted a search of the SUV, finding the two bags believed to be holding 21.8 grams of heroin, two other bags containing a white substance believed to be a small amount of crystal methamphetamine, three pipes covered with suspected methamphetamine residue and two syringes with a brown liquid believed to be heroin.
Rutty and his passenger, 31-year-old Alyssa Maki of Stamford, Conn., were arrested and taken to the Newbury Barracks. Neither were licensed to carry firearms and were booked on firearm, ammunition and narcotics charges. Rutty was also charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. They were taken to Haverhill District Court for arraignment.