Medford police arrested eight people between Monday, November 2 and Sunday, November 8, according to the department’s weekly arrest log, down from 14 the week before. The heaviest charges of the week came from a single stop on Tuesday, November 3, in which a 23-year-old Boston man was charged with leaving a firearm in a vehicle, possessing a large-capacity feeding device, possessing marijuana with intent to distribute and a drug violation near a school or park. The stop is logged as beginning with a lights violation. Three people were arrested for shoplifting, two of them in the same incident on Friday, and four people were picked up on outstanding warrants.
A charge is not a conviction. Everyone listed is presumed innocent unless and until found guilty in court. Names, ages, addresses and charges are as printed in the department’s log, which it marks “Public Information. Open for release and redistribution.”
Firearm and drug charges
The man is listed in the log as Gerar Alamo Diaz, 23, of 1 Gurney Street, Boston, and was arrested on Tuesday, November 3. The charges, in the order the log prints them, are a drug violation near a school or park under Chapter 94C, Section 32J; possession of a large-capacity feeding device; leaving a firearm in a vehicle under Chapter 140, Section 131C; possession of a Class D substance with intent to distribute under Chapter 94C, Section 32C; and a motor vehicle lights violation under Chapter 90, Section 7 (incident 26020250). Class D is marijuana under the state’s controlled substance schedules. The school-or-park charge is an add-on that applies when a distribution offense happens within a set distance of school property or a park, and the log does not say which school or park or where the stop took place.
Two other arrests on Tuesday involved drugs or driving. Brian P. Barry, 40, of 12 Wedgemere Road, Medford, was charged with possession of a Class A substance under Chapter 94C, Section 34 and operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license under Chapter 90, Section 23 (incident 26020188). Class A includes heroin and fentanyl. Jayden K. Doly-Paul, 20, of 90 River Road, Somerville, was arrested on four warrants (incident 26020218).
Shoplifting
Two of the week’s shoplifting arrests came out of one incident on Friday, November 6 (incident 26020429). Richie Fortina, 19, of 102 Livermore Street, Mattapan, was charged with shoplifting by concealing merchandise under Chapter 266, Section 30A. Pierre Michel F. Cazeau, 18, of 88 Maple Street, Malden, was charged with the same offense and arrested on a warrant as well. On Saturday, November 7, James M. Weare, 45, of 50 West Walnut Park, Roxbury, was charged with shoplifting by asportation, the version of the statute that covers carrying merchandise out of the store rather than concealing it inside, and was also held on a warrant (incident 26020498). The log does not name the stores.
Warrants
Four of the eight entries involve warrants. Besides Doly-Paul, Cazeau and Weare, Ernest R. Myers, 42, of 13 Newbern Avenue, Medford, was arrested on a warrant on Sunday, November 8; his entry carries no incident number. A warrant arrest means a court had already issued a warrant, usually for a missed court date or on a new complaint, and officers served it. The log does not say what the underlying cases are or which courts issued the warrants.
An entry with no charge
The log lists Tyler D. Cruz Soto, 25, address given as homeless, as arrested on Wednesday, November 4 (incident 26020252), but prints no charge beneath the name. That is unusual for the Medford log, which normally lists at least one charge or “warrant arrest” for every entry. The department’s page offers no explanation, and this account does not supply one.
How to read the Medford log
Each entry in the weekly arrest log gives the person’s name, an incident number where one was assigned, the address of record, age, date of arrest and each charge with the chapter and section of the General Laws it falls under. This week’s statutes are Chapter 94C, Sections 32C, 32J and 34 for the drug charges; Chapter 140, Section 131C for a firearm left in a vehicle; Chapter 266, Section 30A for shoplifting; Chapter 90, Section 23 for driving on a suspended license; and Chapter 90, Section 7 for the lights violation. The large-capacity feeding device charge is printed without a statute citation. Warrant arrests are listed without the underlying charge. The log records where the person lives, not where the arrest or any offense took place, and the department withholds the names and addresses of juveniles, none of whom appear this week.
The week in numbers
Eight arrests. Two listed Medford addresses, on Wedgemere Road and Newbern Avenue. The others came from Boston, Roxbury, Mattapan, Somerville and Malden, with one listed as homeless. The youngest was 18 and the oldest 45. Four entries involved warrants, three involved shoplifting, two involved drugs and one involved a firearm.
That is a drop from the 14 arrests logged the week of October 26 to November 1, covered here, when the most serious charges were a nighttime break-in and a driver who would not stop for police, and eight people listed Medford addresses. It matches the eight arrests of the week of October 19 to 25. For the first time in three weeks the log includes firearm and drug charges, which had been absent from the two prior weekly logs.
Medford’s arrests go to Somerville District Court, which handles Medford cases. The department posts weekly arrest logs and daily dispatch logs on its police logs page. This week’s arrest log is here.
