Prosecutors toss major trafficking case after New Bedford police accused of misconduct with informant
From left, Steven Ortiz, Jason DaRosa, Tommy Ortiz, and Katherine Espinal-Paredes left the courtroom after the case was dismissed.
David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
The misconduct cited in the dismissal was first exposed in
While she was secretly seeing Lucas, Medeiros alleges, the detective was using information gleaned from her – without her knowledge – to build a drug trafficking case against Ortiz, her fiance.
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In court Friday morning, Bristol County prosecutor Patrick Driscoll told Bristol County Judge Renee P. Dupuis he couldn't 'in good faith go forward' with the case because of the involvement of Medeiros and Lucas.
'Their involvement in the case has tainted the case, they can't be cut out, and it taints the entire investigation and therefore dismissal is the appropriate remedy,' Driscoll said.
Bristol County prosecutor Patrick Driscoll.
David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
Driscoll declined to speak with the Globe following the hearing, and refused to answer several questions as he exited the courthouse.
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The New Bedford Police Department's misuse of informants is the focus of a recent Globe Spotlight series,
The state's about-face Friday came after Boston attorney Rosemary Scapicchio, who represented Ortiz, told Dupuis she was prepared to prove extensive misconduct by New Bedford Police -- including that one detective had perjured himself in a previous hearing.
'We were ready to make our case, and we would've made a very strong case, in my opinion, showing the rampant misconduct in that police department,' Scapicchio told the Globe following the hearing. 'The police officers were lying, and they knew we were going to expose their lies. And ultimately the Commonwealth, I think, made a decision that they couldn't go forward based on what had happened.'
The investigation into Ortiz, dubbed 'Operation High Stakes,' initially seemed like a big score for local authorities. Spanning a year and involving agents from at least five local, state, and federal agencies, the case came to a dramatic conclusion in June 2017, when Ortiz was arrested.
In all, authorities arrested 21 people as part of the probe, and seized about a pound of heroin and fentanyl. At the time, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III called it 'another example of law enforcement agencies working together to investigate drug dealing activity that fuels 'the opiate epidemic.''
But cracks in the case began to emerge several years later, when Medeiros – examining court records – came to believe that she was the confidential informant at the heart of the case.
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In 2022, she contacted the Globe, which detailed her allegations in
A New Bedford Police internal affairs investigation – prompted by the Globe's reporting – later confirmed the crux of Medeiros's story: That for years, she'd maintained a sexual relationship with Lucas – even as the detective was using her as a confidential informant.
Friday's dismissal marks the second Bristol County drug trafficking case to fall as a result of Lucas's improper relationship with Medeiros.
Last June, after the Globe story about the Lucas-Medeiros relationship, charges of heroin dealing against Miguel Martinez of New Bedford were dropped after the judge in the case excoriated Lucas for 'gross misconduct.'
In that case, Medeiros testified that she'd been instructed by Lucas and another New Bedford detective, Kevin Barbosa, to plant drugs and cash on Martinez.
'[Lucas's] disregard for police department policy regarding informants lacked the very integrity required for the search warrant process to maintain legitimacy,' Judge Renee Dupuis wrote in her decision.
Judge Renee P. Dupuis.
David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
But until Friday, prosecutors had been undeterred in their pursuit of Ortiz.
In the nearly eight years since his arrest, authorities have fended off numerous legal challenges aimed at undermining the investigation.
Dugan Arnett can be reached at
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