Crime

To ‘Ensure Truth,’ Methuen Mayor Releases 2023 Police Investigation Previously Subject to Gag Order

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Methuen Mayor David P. “D.J.” Beauregard Jr. said Friday night he is making public a 2023 police investigation despite a previous court gag order to, in his words, “ensure the truth comes out.”

The March 27, 2023 report into the “Authenticity of a Training Document Belonging to Former Police Officer Sean Fountain” concludes the document is fake and the state Municipal Police Training Committee “intentionally hindered this investigation” by STIRM Group President Lawrence P. Smith. A second part of the report focusing on who is responsible for any forgeries, Smith concludes Fountain created the fake and is “nearly certain” active participants were former Methuen Police Chief Joseph E. Solomon and Capt. Gregory Gallant. Former Mayor Neil Perry fired Gallant in connection with department pay raises. “While STIRM was retained to investigate an administrative matter; that led to the discovery of a criminal conspiracy involving two senior members of the police department and Fountain,” according to the report. As early as April 7, 2023, then-City Councilor Beauregard told WHAV he found the secrecy surrounding the report “extremely frustrating.” The following September, Solomon and former Methuen Police Officer Sean Fountain were indicted by a grand jury convened at the request of Essex County District Attorney Paul F. Tucker’s office.

Crime

Police Arrest Two Springfield Men in Connection with Oct. 2 Downtown Haverhill Shooting

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Two Springfield men have been arrested in connection with the shooting and wounding of a 31-year-old earlier this month in downtown Haverhill. The Haverhill Police Department, working with the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section and the Springfield Police Department, reported Wednesday 41-year-old Jonathan Faust and 33-year-old Roberto Ortega were taken into custody. They both face multiple charges related to the shooting. As WHAV reported at the time, an unidentified man was apparently shot twice in the leg Oct. 2, near a commercial building at 97 Locust St., between Winter Street and downtown Haverhill.

Crime

Haverhill Drug Raid Brings Four Arrests, Seizure of Cocaine, Fentanyl

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Three Haverhill residents in their 20s were arrested on drug charges and a fourth arrested for allegedly obstructing a police investigation after a raid Tuesday that netted, what police called, “a substantial quantity” of drugs and cash. The Haverhill Police Department’s Narcotics Unit, working with Massachusetts State Police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, made the arrests after a search warrant was used at a 355 Washington St. home. Officers seized cocaine, fentanyl, marijuana and, what they called, other evidence of alleged drug dealing. Arrested were 22-year-old Armani Huacon, charged with cocaine trafficking, conspiracy to violate drug law and possession of a Class D drug with intent to distribute; 25-year-old Nathaniel Rios, charged with fentanyl trafficking and conspiracy to violate drug law; 24-year-old Zanniah Huacon, charged with fentanyl trafficking and conspiracy to violate drug law; and 44-year-old Melinda Rodriguez, charged with obstructing a police investigation and disorderly conduct.

Crime

Judge Orders Evaluation of Man Alleged to Have Robbed Bank in Haverhill Last June

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Ryan Messina, the Methuen man charged with robbing a bank in Haverhill in June, was sent last week to Bridgewater State Hospital for a 20-day evaluation. Essex County Superior Court Judge Kathleen McCarthy-Neyman ordered the 36-year-old’s hospitalization following a competency hearing during a court hearing Thursday, Oct. 23, on his fitness to stand trial. Messina is charged with unarmed robbery, larceny over $1,200, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and receiving a stolen motor vehicle. As WHAV reported, Essex County Assistant District Attorney Olivia Brooks said Messina is alleged to have ordered a person out of a white Honda CRV in Lawrence shortly after noon on Monday, June 2.

Crime

Alleged Drug Dealing Case of Man Prosecutors Tied to Gigliotti Moves to Superior Court

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Joseph M. Hurley, the local man prosecutors attempted to tie to Francis P. Gigliotti II, who later died in police custody, is scheduled to answer to an apparently unrelated drug charge next month in Essex County Superior Court. Forty-three-year-old Hurley was indicted in August by a grand jury on a single charge of distributing cocaine after having been previously convicted distributing a controlled substance, moving his case out of Haverhill District Court to Superior Court. He is a scheduled for a pre-trial conference Thursday, Nov. 13, and is out of jail after posting $50,000 cash bail, according to court documents. As previously reported by WHAV, a Haverhill Police report names Hurley as the man on an electric scooter Gigliotti is seen meeting with on Haverhill city security video just after 5 p.m. on Friday, July 11, less than two hours before he died.

Crime

Haverhill Police Report Man, 31, Recovering From Leg Wounds After Thursday Night Shooting

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A 31-year-old man suffered two shotgun wounds last night near downtown Haverhill that police said they believe are not life threatening. Haverhill Deputy Police Chief Stephen J. Doherty Jr. told WHAV this morning an investigation is underway into the shooting that took place Thursday night at a about quarter to nine, near a commercial building at 97 Locust St., between Winter Street and downtown Haverhill. The unnamed man was apparently shot twice in the leg and taken to a local hospital for treatment. Doherty said there have not been any arrests, but the investigation is ongoing.

Crime

Methuen Closes Two More ‘Human Trafficking’ Businesses, for Total of Five Shuttered

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Continuing its sweep of what Methuen officials call “human trafficking” businesses, the city said Tuesday it closed three more businesses for a total of five shut down this week. Methuen Mayor David P. “D.J.” Beauregard Jr. said the city’s Department of Health, Human Services and Inspections issued cease-and-desist orders to Oriental Spa, 119 Swan St.; Yellow Lilly Day Spa, 17 Baldwin St., #6; and Lavender Spa, 17 Baldwin St., #7. Officials said inspectors discovered “unlicensed activity, evidence of unlawful habitation within the commercial spaces and multiple code violations including unpermitted construction, blocked egress and unsanitary conditions.”

“We are moving aggressively to identify and close these businesses, to crack down on the evildoers who profit from human suffering and to hold landlords, traffickers and johns accountable,” Beauregard said. All three cases, they said, were referred to the Methuen Police Department for criminal investigation. The closings follow the shutdowns of Beauty Garden Spa on Wallace Street and Eastern Bodywork Therapy on Hampshire Street.

Crime

Methuen Reports Closing Second Spa as Alleged Front for Sex Trafficking

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Methuen reported Monday it has closed a second spa, calling it “another alleged front for human sex trafficking.”

Methuen Mayor David P. “D.J.” Beauregard Jr. used the opportunity to note the city will form a new Human Trafficking Task Force to “root out such establishments citywide.” The announcement followed a health inspection Monday at Eastern Bodywork Therapy, 17 Hampshire St., after the city said it received a complaint of unlicensed business activity. “Upon inspection, the inspector discovered that the site was being used as an unlicensed bodywork establishment. Evidence of unlawful habitation and other materials consistent with criminal activity were found in plain view and immediately referred to the Methuen Police Department for further investigation,” the city said in a release. The Department of Health, Human Services and Inspections issued a cease-and-desist order. As WHAV reported Monday, police obtained a search warrant last week to enter Beauty Garden Spa, 5 Wallace St., Methuen, and arrested 38-year-old Suping Zhu of Flushing, N.Y., on charges of deriving support from prostitution, keeping of a house of ill fame and trafficking person for sexual servitude.