WHATELY — A New York City man arrested Wednesday night on charges of trafficking heroin was arraigned Thursday in Greenfield District Court and held on $500,000 cash bail.
George Flores of West 180 St., N.Y., was arrested after fleeing State Police in Northampton on multiple traffic violations and for possessing roughly 112 grams of heroin with intent to distribute.
According to Mary Carey, a spokeswoman for the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, “The suspected heroin that Flores threw from his vehicle would fill over 5,000 bags when packaged for distribution in the Franklin and Hampshire county areas, with a street value of over $50,000.”
He is in custody at the Franklin County Jail and is to return to court on Sept. 27.
Acting on a tip that a Flores was selling drugs out of a local motel, State Police from Northampton located Flores’ white Honda, conducted a license check and learned that Flores’ Massachusetts license had been suspended. Officers from the Northwestern District Attorney’s Anti-Crime Task Force, in an unmarked cruiser, made a traffic stop on King Street, around 5 p.m. They saw the lone male driver roll down the passenger side window and throw a clear plastic baggy onto the road side, before taking off. Police pursued the vehicle for several miles, through Hatfield and into Whately, where the vehicle was stopped by tire-deflating “Stop Sticks” deployed by a Whately police officer.
The baggy tossed from Flores’ vehicle was found to contain a brown, chunky substance, about the size of a baseball. It later tested positive for heroin and weighed about 112 grams.
Task force officers also seized two cell phones and over $2,000 in U.S. currency, according to Carey.
Besides drug trafficking charges, Flores was charged with driving after suspension of a license, negligent driving, marked-lane violations and failure to stop for police.