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  • Billerica PD promotes 6 to supervisory positions, including 1st female lieutenant

    Billerica PD promotes 6 to supervisory positions, including 1st female lieutenant

    BILLERICA — The Billerica Police recently promoted six members to supervisory positions, including the first female lieutenant in the department’s history.

    Lt. Commander John Harring will now serve as operations commander, while Lt. Commander Frank Mirasolo will oversee Administration. Lt. Tara Connors — the department’s first female lieutenant — will serve in patrol, as will Lt. Mark Gualtieri, Sgt. Dwayne Eidens, and Sgt. Timothy McKenna.

    All six promotions were made to fill vacancies left by the retirements of Lt. Commander Greg Katz and Lt. Commander Ronald Balboni.

    “Lt. Commander Katz and Lt. Commander Balboni will be deeply missed within this department, where they both had a major impact throughout their careers,” Chief Roy Frost said. “I am pleased to see this new group of supervisors being promoted. They have big shoes to fill, but I am confident they will do so with professionalism, compassion, and skill.”

    • Harring joined the Billerica Police in 2001, after serving the Broward County, Florida Sheriff’s Department. His father is a retired Billerica Police detective lieutenant. Harring worked as a K-9 handler for Billerica starting in 2009, at which time he was assigned to the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council K-9 Unit. Harring eventually became commander of the NEMLEC K-9 Unit, serving in that position until 2021. He was promoted to sergeant in 2014 and lieutenant in 2020. Prior to his promotion, Harring was in charge of training. He holds a master’s degree in criminal justice from Western New England College, located in Springfield.

    • Mirasolo began working with the department in January 1995, after serving the Keene, N.H. Police Department. He was promoted to sergeant in 2004 and lieutenant in 2021. He has been a detective for 26 years. Prior to this position, Mirasolo was in charge of the early night patrol shift. He holds a master’s degree in criminal justice from Anna Maria College, located in Paxton.

    • Conners joined the department in 2003 after serving as a teacher in the Billerica schools. She was promoted to sergeant in 2016. In addition to being the first female to reach the rank of lieutenant in department history, Connors has served as a domestic violence officer, a court prosecutor and a grant administrator. She also served as a supervisor of the school resource officer program. Her father is a retired Billerica Police deputy chief. Connors holds a law degree from the New England School of Law, located in Boston, and is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association.

    • Gualtieri started with the Billerica Police in 1995, after transferring from the Billerica Fire Department. Gualtieri was promoted to sergeant in 2002. In 2004, he was placed on the NEMLEC Tactical Police Force and later in 2010 trained and certified as a NEMLEC SWAT officer, where he served until 2023. In that capacity, Gualtieri responded to high-risk situations throughout the region. Prior to his promotion, Gualtieri was serving as a patrol sergeant on the early night shift. He is a U.S. Air Force veteran, and holds a master’s degree in criminal justice from Western New England College.

    • Eidens joined the department in 2005. He worked in patrol until 2018, when he was assigned to the Traffic Division. In addition to investigating motor vehicle crashes and conducting targeted road safety programs, Eidens was certified as a motorcycle officer and assigned to the NEMLEC Motor Unit. Eidens is a U.S. Army Reserve veteran, and recipient of the Bronze Star for his service overseas. He holds a master’s degree in criminal justice from UMass Lowell.

    • McKenna began working for the department in 2003, after transferring from the Bedford Police Department, where he worked as a dispatcher. McKenna has served as a Criminal Justice Information Services administrator since 2009. There he managed all state and federal compliance requirements on behalf of Billerica. In 2017, McKenna was assigned as a detective, working in the criminal bureau. He became a provisional sergeant in 2023, during a period where the department needed to find quality supervisors as civil service worked to develop new testing standards. McKenna served in this provisional capacity for one year. After a short stint back in the criminal bureau, McKenna will return to a permanent supervisory role. His father was a captain of the Arlington Police Department.

    Follow Aaron Curtis on X, formerly known as Twitter, @aselahcurtis

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  • Driver facing criminal charges for high-speed Mustang crash at Lowell-Dracut line

    Driver facing criminal charges for high-speed Mustang crash at Lowell-Dracut line

    DRACUT — The driver sent to a trauma center last month after crashing a neon-green Ford Mustang near the Lowell-Dracut line is facing a pile of criminal charges due to the violent single-vehicle wreck that left behind a trail of destruction on Hildreth Street.

    Christopher Jopson, 30, of Dracut, is facing a total of 10 charges due to the crash, including five counts of vandalizing property (a felony), and one count each of negligent operation of a motor vehicle, unregistered motor vehicle, uninsured motor vehicle, speeding, and marked lanes violation.

    This isn’t the first time Jopson has been in this situation, according to Lowell District Court documents.

    Jopson was arrested for another alleged reckless single-vehicle crash that occurred with him behind the wheel on Old Road in Dracut nearly two years ago. During that wreck, a Dracut Police report states Jopson totaled another Ford Mustang, this one black.

    Court documents additionally show Jopson was arrested in March 2023 for an incident in Dracut that included a response from the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council SWAT Team, and again in June 2023 following a violent episode at the Cornelius F. Kiernan Judicial Center in Lowell.

    Each of those cases are pending in court.

    The crash on Hildreth Street took place at approximately 12:20 p.m. March 8. First responders arrived to find the brightly-colored and mangled 2013 Ford Mustang Boss 302 came to a rest in a yard after smashing through a fence in front of 430 Hildreth St. in Lowell.

    A Dracut Police incident report states Jopson was entrapped in the vehicle, “unsecured between the driver and passenger seat, with his head at the dashboard and his legs facing the rear of the vehicle.”

    Lowell and Dracut firefighters were able to extricate Jopson using hydraulic rescue tools. He was transported to Lowell General Hospital and then flown by medical helicopter to Lahey Hospital in Burlington. Medical records available in court documents state he suffered an elbow fracture, and a facial laceration. Records also state Jopson experienced a seizure, which Jopson’s attorney, Ernest Stone, has said caused the crash.

    As for the crash scene, police said debris and car parts from the vehicle spanned approximately 200 feet from the intersection of Hildreth and Hovey streets, to where the vehicle came to a rest. Several bystanders and drivers reported witnessing the vehicle being operated erratically, speeding, traveling on the wrong side of the road, and going through a red light on Hildreth Street just prior to the crash.

    “He went around two cars, and he was coming directly at me,” driver Tracey Walton, of Dracut, told The Sun at the scene that day. “Then he switched back into the lane he was supposed to be in. I thought he was going to hit me.”

    The laundry list of damaged property from the chaotic crash — which led to the vandalism charges — included a mailbox unit for an apartment complex, a picket fence lining a parking lot by Henry Avenue, a street sign, a cement wall, and a telephone pole that was snapped in half.

    Surveillance footage of the vehicle’s treacherous route, captured by cameras at the nearby Hannaford, showed the Mustang went airborne at one point. Police said the Mustang’s estimated speed was 80 to 100 mph. The speed limit in that section of roadway is 30 mph.

    The Registry of Motor Vehicles sent a correspondence to Jopson, dated March 11, stating his driver’s license was “suspended indefinitely because of an immediate threat” to public safety, according to the RMV paperwork available in court documents.

    Court documents state Jopson was arraigned by Lowell District Court Judge William Travaun Bailey on April 3. Due to this latest arrest, Jopson’s release from custody due to the aforementioned previous charges was revoked, and he was ordered held without bail.

    In an affidavit filed in support of a motion to reconsider the revocation of release, Stone stated Jopson suffers from epilepsy, and that he endures seizures multiple times a week. Stone said in the affidavit that Jopson “suffered a seizure without warning while driving causing the crash.”

    According to the defense attorney, Jopson is in the process of having a surgery within the coming months to address the seizure disorder, and needs to attend preoperative meetings.

    Stone also stated in the affidavit that the Mustang, which had been purchased recently from a dealership in Henderson, Nevada, was both registered and insured at the time of the wreck.

    The motion to allow Jopson’s release from custody was ultimately denied by Judge Michael Fabbri following a hearing on April 11.

    A Dracut Police incident report states the other motor vehicle crash involving Jopson occurred in the 40 block of Old Road on May 14, 2022. In that crash, Jopson was uninjured. When police arrived on scene, they found him standing outside the totaled 2010 Ford Mustang that had come to a rest in the eastbound lane, facing west.

    Jopson claimed, according to police, that he had turned onto Old Road from Sicard Avenue when a car entered his lane, forcing him to swerve. The Mustang spun out, eventually exiting the road and striking a tree stump.

    The skid marks in the roadway did not match Jopson’s story, police wrote in the report, adding that a driver who was behind the Mustang at the time of the crash also refuted Jopson’s claims of another car causing the wreck.

    The witness told police he observed the Mustang speeding and being operated recklessly, before it crossed the yellow lines and crashed.

    The witness said he stopped at the crash scene, where he claimed to hear Jopson tell another bystander “that he was going to tell police that a car pulled out of a side street in front of him and caused the crash so he wouldn’t get in trouble.”

    Jopson was subsequently charged with operating to endanger and marked lanes violation.

    “The vehicle had the potential to be a danger for any vehicle traveling on Old Road as the vehicle entered both lanes of travel during the incident,” police said in the report. “The vehicle left the roadway on both sides of the road causing potential danger to any possible pedestrians in the area.”

    Less than a year later, on March 19, 2023, a Dracut Police incident report states officers were dispatched to a residence on Sicard Avenue for a disturbance involving Jopson and one of his family members. Jopson is alleged to have pulled a 3-inch folding knife on the family member. After the police were called, Jopson retreated into his residence.

    Police said they made contact with Jopson, who refused to leave the home “stating he did nothing wrong” and what he did was self-defense. Due to the presence of a weapon, NEMLEC SWAT was summoned. Jopson was ultimately charged with assault with a dangerous weapon.

    On June 26, 2023, Jopson was charged with vandalism, disruption of court proceedings, and disorderly conduct after he allegedly became irate during a clerk’s hearing in Lowell District Court. An arrest report from a court officer states Jopson punched a table and threw a chair while “yelling and screaming obscenities” until he was taken into custody by officers.

    Jopson is slated to return to court for a pretrial hearing on May 14.

    Stone declined to comment.

    Follow Aaron Curtis on X, formerly known as Twitter, @aselahcurtis

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  • Investigation leads to drug, gun bust in Tewksbury

    Investigation leads to drug, gun bust in Tewksbury

    TEWKSBURY — An investigation by the Tewksbury Police Narcotics Unit led to the arrest of an alleged drug dealer from Lawrence, and the seizure of narcotics, a firearm, ammunition, and nearly $7,300 in cash, according to authorities.

    Jan Paul Baerga-Mariani, 29, was arraigned on Tuesday in Lowell District Court on a number of drug and gun charges. Judge Zachary Hillman held the Lawrence resident without bail pending a 58A dangerousness hearing, scheduled on Wednesday.

    The Tewksbury Police Department said Baerga-Mariani is a fugitive from justice on three outstanding warrants from courts in Lowell and Lawrence. He is also being held on a full extradition warrant for a domestic violence case out of a court in Puerto Rico.

    According to police, detectives found Baerga-Mariani in possession of nearly 210 grams of cocaine, and two pill bottles containing prescription drugs for which he is allegedly not prescribed.

    Police also alleged finding him with a 9mm handgun with a serial number that had been removed. The weapon was loaded with a 13-round magazine. Police said they also uncovered in Baerga-Mariani’s possession more than three dozen loose 9mm bullets, a 10-round magazine containing five rounds, and a 15-round magazine containing eight rounds.

    According to court documents, he also had $7,282 cash, which was attributed to drug-sale proceeds and seized.

    “This is a great example of solid detective work and interagency cooperation by our local drug task force. I am grateful for the hard work by all involved,” Tewksbury Police Chief Ryan Columbus said in a press release about the arrest. “Special thanks to the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office and NEMLEC SWAT for their assistance.”

    Baerga-Mariani is charged with trafficking in 200 grams or more of cocaine, possession of a large capacity firearm in the commission of a felony, possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number in the commission of a felony, two counts of possession of a large capacity feeding device, possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card, possession of a Class E substance, carrying a firearm without a license, and carrying a loaded firearm without a license.

    Baerga-Mariani’s attorney, Christopher Spring, was not immediately available for comment.

    Follow Aaron Curtis on X, formerly known as Twitter, @aselahcurtis

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