A 44-year-old Haverhill man, previously linked in court to a man who died in police custody last summer, was arrested Tuesday on alleged drug dealing and firearms possession.
Police said Joseph Hurley Jr. is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday at Haverhill District Court on charges of trafficking cocaine, manufacturing a controlled substance, possession of a large-capacity feeding device, unlawful possession of a firearm without required identification card, improper storage of a firearm and a firearm violation involving prior convictions.
Following a lengthy investigation, according to a statement released by Haverhill acting Deputy Chief Meaghan Paré, Haverhill and Massachusetts State Police used two search warrants at separate residences in Haverhill before taking Hurley into custody.
“During the searches, investigators recovered a substantial quantity of suspected cocaine, along with additional evidence consistent with drug distribution and manufacturing activity. Officers also seized a loaded firearm, a large-capacity magazine and other firearm-related items,” the statement said.
Last July, as WHAV reported, prosecutors first attempted to tie Hurley to Francis P. Gigliotti II. They said in court that Hurley may have been a man seen wearing a “paintball face shield” and driving a black scooter that stopped who gave Gigliotti something “consistent with a hand-to-hand, street-level drug transaction.” A police report suggested Gigliotti “smoked crack cocaine inside of the building during that time frame and began to freak out within seconds of smoking it.”
Essex County District Attorney Paul F. Tucker and then-Haverhill Police Chief Robert P. Pistone said Gigliotti later “became unresponsive” during, what they described as, “a struggle” with a group of police officers that held him outside of a Winter Street restaurant.