Local Man Indicted For Heroin Trafficking

An Essex County Superior Court grand jury recently indicted Jose Gonzalez, 37, of 29 Ingalls Terrace, Swampscott for allegedly trafficking in heroin.

The indictment was handed up July 22, for trafficking 14 grams or more, but less than 28 grams, of heroin, according to court papers.

On March 29, and Middlesex District Attorney drug task force agents and were near Gonzalez's address, waiting to carry out a search warrant, when he left the residence in a car as a passenger, the arrest report says.

Police pulled over the car on Ocean Avenue in Lynn and handcuffed Gonzalez, who had outstanding warrants sworn out on him.

Officers placed Gonzalez in the back of the cruiser and one of them noticed a knotted plastic bag on the ground outside the cruiser door, the report states.

Tan powder was inside the bag.

Next police took the suspect from the back of the cruiser and a bag with tan powder fell from his waist to the ground, says the report.

At that point Gonzalez allegedly told police, "That's all I had, I don't have any more," according to the arrest report.

Police booked the suspect at the Medford State Police barracks and transported the drugs to the Middlesex District Attorney's Office, the court papers said.

Police later searched Gonzalez's apartment at 29 Ingalls Terrace and seized paraphenalia used for selling narcotics.

Gonzalez was being held on $25,000 bail and awaits arraignment in Middlesex Superior Court, according to Carrie Monahan of the Essex County DA's Office.

Typically, cases are prosecuted in counties outside those where a suspect has been indicted if there is a possibility of a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict of interest in the county where the indictment was handed up, she said.