GREENFIELD — A Greenfield man and a Turners Falls woman were arrested after 500 bags of heroin was discovered in their vehicle following a Thursday traffic stop.
Greenfield Police Officer Jay Butynski was monitoring traffic at 4:14 p.m. when he saw a white Mazda speed through a yellow light at the intersection of Mohawk Trail and Newton Street, according to the police report filed with Greenfield District Court. Butynski stopped the vehicle in the parking lot of a nearby gas station.
“He recognized the passenger, Joseph Ewig, as someone he had previously arrested for narcotics-related distribution offenses,” according to a post on the Greenfield Police Department’s Facebook page.
Ewig, 38, of Greenfield, and Kaitlyn Kuzmeskus, 27, of Turners Falls, who was driving, provided police with different answers when asked where they were headed, the police report states.
After further investigation, a K-9 was requested to search the vehicle. Capt. Scott Walron and K-9 Uno of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office responded.
Inside of the car, the K-9 located a small rectangular package “wrapped in a pornographic magazine paper in the glove box,” according to the police report.
“Uno alerted for the presence of narcotics in the vehicle, and officers then located 500 bags of suspected heroin,” the Facebook post reads. “Pursuant to this search and subsequent arrest, $517 in cash and a cellphone were also seized as evidence.”
Ewig was arrested and charged with conspiracy to violate the drug law, possession of a Class A drug with intent to distribute, subsequent offense, and intimidation of a witness. Ewig’s bail was set at $25,000.
Kuzmeskus was arrested and charged with conspiracy to violate the drug law, possession of a Class A drug with intent to distribute and a red light violation. Her bail was set at $500.
Both Ewig and Kuzmeskus were arraigned in Greenfield District Court Friday morning. Ewig’s pretrial conference is set for Feb. 3.