Boston police say a Tuesday patrol near the troubled Mass. and Cass corridor ended with a 37-year-old man in cuffs and a stash of suspected fentanyl, methamphetamine and prescription pills off the street.
Officers reported finding what appeared to be trafficking-level quantities packaged into dozens of small bags, after an investigation that began in a Southampton Street gas station parking lot and moved toward the Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard intersection. The man was taken to Nashua Street Jail and is expected to be arraigned in Roxbury District Court.
According to a post by the Boston Police Department on Facebook, officers identified the suspect as 37-year-old Brandon Hamler of Mattapan. Plainclothes officers said they watched him take part in “a series of hand-to-hand exchanges” that looked like street-level drug deals before stopping him along with two other people.
Police reported seizing 31 individually packaged bags of a substance believed to be fentanyl, with a combined weight of about 19 grams. They also listed 10 individually packaged bags of a substance suspected to be methamphetamine, plus additional pills believed to be Adderall that officers say were recovered from another individual. According to the department, Hamler faces charges that include trafficking fentanyl in the 18-grams-or-more and less-than-36-grams range, distribution of class B substances and possession with intent to distribute.
Officers say they saw street-level exchanges
Local officials and advocates have long described the Mass. and Cass area as a central hotspot for Boston’s opioid crisis and open-air drug activity. Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration has stressed a mix of targeted enforcement, treatment and outreach as summer enforcement steps up in the district, according to WBUR. Police say this arrest is part of those broader efforts to disrupt street sales while also trying to connect people to services instead of simply pushing them somewhere else.
NEST operations and outreach
The department’s Neighborhood Engagement Safety Team has been running similar focused patrols around Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard to flag and intercept suspected dealers, operations that often put officers side by side with outreach workers who can offer treatment pathways along with enforcement, according to the Boston Police Department. In its Facebook post, the department said officers recovered suspected narcotics and an undisclosed amount of cash during this latest stop, which police say started in the Southampton Street gas station lot and ended near the Mass. and Cass intersection.
Legal note
Massachusetts law treats trafficking in fentanyl and other opioids as a serious felony. Under the state trafficking statute described on the Massachusetts Legislature site and the sentencing guidelines summarized on Mass.gov, trafficking fentanyl at specified weight thresholds can trigger mandatory minimum prison terms measured in years.
In its post, the Boston Police Department said officers “work in partnership with B.E.S.T. team clinicians and the mayor’s office coordinated response team to combine enforcement with substance abuse alternatives, housing resources, and mental health support.” Officials have not released additional court dates, and arraignment records at Roxbury District Court are expected to confirm the final list of charges and the next steps in the case.
