Joseph M. Hurley Jr., who was previously linked in court to a man who died in Haverhill police custody last summer, was arraigned Wednesday in Haverhill District Court on several gun and drugs charges and is being held in the Essex House of Correction in Middleton.
Judge Cesar A. Archilla also revoked 44-year-old Hurley’s bail on another drug case pending in Essex County Superior Court.
Haverhill Police arrested Hurley Tuesday afternoon after, what they called, a lengthy investigation that included several controlled “buys” from Hurley and surveillance of two homes in the city. Police said they found Hurley outside an Ashworth Terrace home after watching him leaving an apartment on Washington Avenue. A police report notes they found him with $850 in cash and a key that opens a safe at the apartment. From the safe, police said, they seized $4,500 in cash, a metal measuring cup, 52.9 grams of suspected cocaine, 20 amphetamine pills, four unidentified pills and Suboxone films. Police also found an unlocked 9 mm handgun with 18 rounds in a small backpack. They said white residue in the cup was consistent with the manufacture of crack cocaine.
Hurley is charged with cocaine trafficking, manufacturing of a controlled substance, possession of a firearm without an ID card, possession of a large capacity magazine and improper storage of a firearm.
In court, Hurley’s attorney, Mark Morrison, argued Hurley is currently living in Manchester, N.H., and, therefore, the search warrant ias not related to him. However, Essex County Assistant District Attorney Paolo Cosmo said a woman at each home said Hurley sometimes stayed with them. Cosmo said they both identified his belongings. Hurley also allegedly told police the belongings were his including two ski masks he allegedly used during the controlled buys.
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 Jr. 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.
Hurley is due back in court Wednesday, May 27 for a status hearing.