A Chilmark summer employee was arraigned in Edgartown district court Thursday after allegedly having a package of marijuana mailed to the harbor master’s Menemsha office.
Emmett L. Ross, 19, was arraigned on August 21 charges in Chilmark of a drug violation near a school or park, possessing to distribute class D drug (marijuana) and larceny less than $250.
According to a police report filed in court, Mr. Ross, a California Polytechnic State University student, received an express mail package sent to the harbor master shack in Menemsha, where he was an employee. Chilmark police were notified by the postal inspector that the package had been identified by a drug dog for the smell of marijuana.
After Mr. Ross signed for the package while under surveillance, he came with police officers to the police station, the report said. Once there, he allegedly admitted that the package contained about eight ounces of marijuana.
Police said that when Mr. Ross opened the express mail package, sent to him by a friend in Califorina, it had a Ziploc bag containing a leafy-green substance consistent with marijuana, and an X-box game controller.
Mr. Ross allegedly told police that he paid $1,900 for the drugs and planned to sell them. He also allegedly told police that he was not worried about having the package sent to the harbor master shack, and that he did not have a permanent residence on the Island.
Mr. Ross also allegedly admitted pocketing fees paid to the harbor master’s office. According to a police report, harbor master Dennis Jason said he suspected that Mr. Ross was pocketing the $20-per-hour fee charged to people who tie up their boats for more than an hour. Mr. Jason told police there was no accounting for that revenue, and he suspected “that these monies were being taken from the town.” The police report said an investigation will continue into whether other summer staff were involved.
Mr. Jason said Mr. Ross is no longer on the watch list, and he had no other comment.
Bail was set at $1,300, and a pretrial hearing scheduled for August 31.
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