Two New Bedford men were held on $50,000 bail Friday evening and face drug charges after Martha’s Vineyard Drug Task Force officers arrested them as they departed a Steamship Authority ferry in Vineyard Haven.
Aaron Watkins, 27, and Desmond Roderiques, 24, are scheduled for arraignment in Edgartown District Court on Friday, Oct. 23 on charges of trafficking in heroin, trafficking in cocaine, and conspiracy to violate drug laws. Police say the men are allegedly affiliated with a violent New Bedford group known as the Monte Park gang, and police said they have been investigating the alleged drug operation for about three months.
Police seized 53 grams of heroin, 23 grams of cocaine, and several containers of marijuana during the arrest, according to the task force officers. The street value of the drugs was estimated at $12,000.
The two men were stopped as the 2014 black Toyota Camry they were traveling in turned onto Water street after disembarking from the ferry at about 4:35 p.m. Friday, police said. They searched the men and the vehicle by authority of a search warrant issued earlier in the day by the Edgartown district court. According to police, the drugs were concealed in the engine compartment of the car.
Also Friday, police executed a search warrant at a home on Hye Way in Edgartown. They seized 80 grams of marijuana, methadone pills, and narcotics distribution paraphernalia at the address, police said, and they believed the two suspects and others allegedly used the home as a base to deal drugs on the Island.
Police said Monday that the investigation is still active, and they intend to question a number of people this week, with more arrests likely.
The Edgartown property is owned by a corporation, 2 Hye Way LLC. Police said the owners were not aware of the drug operation, and were not renting the house to Mr. Watkins or Mr. Roderiques.
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