# Worcester Gang Unit has active nights



## PBC FL Cop (Oct 22, 2003)

Sunday Oct. 15
*Gang unit has active nights*

Visibility plan brings arrests

*By Milton J. Valencia TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
*







*WORCESTER- *The gang unit officers had already been stationed at a Main Street corner, part of a weekend outreach and surveillance effort to provide a sense of visibility in the community while at the same time investigating drug dealing in the area. Then they noticed the commotion a block away, at Main and Beaver streets. At first glance, it seemed to be people in a joint jog.

But one of them had a knife, and was trying to keep others, who were coming at him, at bay. By then, Officers James Carmody, Chris Panarello and Gary Morris realized this was no jog, that one man had a foot-long steak knife in his hand and others were still going after him.

The officers moved in, with guns drawn. That alone dispersed the crowd. But it still took a moment for the man to drop his knife, a situation a police captain said could have turned dangerous.

The officers used restraint, approached the man and forced him to drop his knife. He was arrested. By then the gang unit officers realized he had just stabbed someone in a barbershop around the corner.

"They held themselves great," said police Capt. Steven M. Sargent, commander of the gang unit. "The guy's got a knife, coming at them. But they took him down safely for both sides and made a tremendous arrest."

Edwin Suriel, 27, of 7 Silver St. is being held for arraignment tomorrow in Central District Court, charged with assault with intent to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and resisting arrest.

He allegedly walked into the Main Attractions barbershop on Main Street yesterday morning, trying to lure one of the barbers outside. When the barber, a 27-year-old Worcester man, wouldn't follow, he stabbed him, chased him outside, and stabbed him again, police said. Several witnesses tried to confront the man, but he kept them at bay with his knife - until police arrived.

The stabbing victim suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries, and was under observation in a local hospital yesterday.

The spontaneous arrest was part of a busy weekend for gang unit officers, who less than 24 hours earlier made a series of arrests in drug-related investigations, seizing more than 60 grams of heroin, 35 grams of cocaine, more than $5,000 in cash, and a loaded .40-caliber handgun.

"It was a good day for police, a bad day for the bad guys," said police Sgt. Stephen M. Roche, of the gang unit. "It's just being out there, and being in the right place at the right time."

Friday and yesterday had been part of a gang unit community outreach effort, to provide a sense of visibility while at the same time concentrating efforts on drug investigations.

Capt. Sargent said there are community complaints in different neighborhoods, and the outreach effort was to provide a sense of visibility, particularly on weekends.

And the gang unit work began Friday night, with a motor vehicle stop that turned into a drug arrest.

•Officers Carmody and Panarello were driving on Chandler Street about 7 p.m. when they spotted a Toyota Camry making an illegal turn from Irving to Chandler streets. The officers stopped the car, and allegedly smelled marijuana.

The driver, Russell P. Beaudoin, 22, of 71 Edgeworth St., allegedly told the officers he had just finished smoking marijuana. The officers checked his license, realized it had been revoked and made an immediate arrest.

The officers then searched the car. Inside, they found two containers holding a half-pound of marijuana, which police estimated to be worth $800 on the street. Mr. Beaudoin also had $530 in cash in his possession, believed to be proceeds from drug dealing.

Mr. Beaudoin was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of the Chandler Community School, driving without a license and making an illegal turn.

•An hour later, Officers Carmody and Panarello and Officer Carmelo Oquendo responded to the Green Island Pub, 107 Millbury St., on a report of a man inside selling cocaine. The officers were given a description of the man and found a man fitting the description.

Kenneth Howe, 42, 282 Hamilton St., Apt. 2, allegedly tried to leave the pub when the officers entered but was stopped and searched. Police said they found six bags of cocaine, each weighing a gram, in his possession.

He was charged with possession of cocaine.

•At 9:45 p.m., the officers met with members of the Anti-Violence Street Crimes Unit to execute a search warrant at 1 Fairfax Road. Sgt. Roche said the warrant, prompted by neighborhood complaints, was based on a months-long investigation into drug dealing from the home.

Police entered and allegedly found four men at a dinner table, packaging heroin. They were arrested, along with a woman who was in a bedroom where drugs were found.

Jose Soto, 34, of 1 Fairfax Road, who was the target of the warrant, was charged with trafficking heroin over 28 grams, and trafficking cocaine over 28 grams. Luis A. Skerrett, 29, of 147 Perry Ave., Apt. 2A, was charged with trafficking heroin over 28 grams, and possession of cocaine. His brother, Davie Skerrett, 27, of 57 Coral St., Apt. 1, was charged with trafficking heroin over 28 grams. Luis Hernandez, 25, of 30 Everett Gaylord Boulevard, Apt. 2A, was charged with trafficking in heroin over 28 grams.

Lizbeth Robles, 26, of 48 Narragansett Ave., Springfield, was charged with trafficking heroin over 28 grams

Police allegedly found 58 grams of pure heroin, worth $6,000 in street value, on the kitchen table and throughout the home. Also, Mr. Soto, the target of the raid, police allege, had 28 grams of cocaine in his bedroom, and Luis Skerrett had one gram of cocaine in his possession.

Police found $400 on Luis Skerrett, believed to be the proceeds from drug sales, along with drug packaging materials.

•Soon after, police executed two more search warrants at 147 Perry Ave., where Luis Skerrett lives, and in the downstairs apartment where his mother-in-law lives.

Police allegedly found $2,000 in cash in Mr. Skerrett's apartment. Then, they searched his mother-in-law's home, Apt. 1A, and allegedly found $3,000 in cash, marijuana, and a loaded .40-caliber handgun along with a box of ammunition.

The mother-in-law, Nayda Preira, 50, was charged with possession of marijuana, possession of a firearm without a license, possession of ammunition without a license, and possession of a large-capacity firearm. 
*Nice Job!!!*


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