The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration targeted several low-level drug dealers and addicts in sweeping arrests across New England, not high profile members of the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel like the agency claimed, a Boston Globe investigation found.
In Franklin, local law enforcement partnered with the DEA to make 27 arrests in late August after a three-month investigation into drug trafficking. Police arrested 17 individuals on Aug. 26 and seized $123,000 in cash, a firearm and narcotics. The next day, they made 10 arrests and cleared a homeless encampment, according to a press release.
At the time, DEA Special Agent in Charge Jarod Forget said in a press release that the Sinoloa Cartel in Mexico had “a strong hold on drug distribution in New England” and that the week’s arrests targeted the cartel’s street-level distribution network.
In September, Forget told Boston 25 that the DEA does not go after “low-level retail drug traffickers. We are going after drug trafficking organizations, the networks.”
The Globe found that these claims were not true.
Their investigative reporting found that only three people arrested in Franklin were accused of dealing sufficient amounts of drugs to prompt jail time. No one faced federal charges, and most were immediately released.
On Oct. 20, 14 people arrested in the August raid were arraigned in Franklin District Court. Nearly all told the Globe they struggled with drug addiction and were upset with their mischaracterization as cartel members. All of them were released shortly after the raid.
Some individuals did have large amounts of drugs, but court documents and agency spokespeople could not provide evidence that any individual had direct ties to the cartel, the Globe reported.
Multiple Franklin residents told the Globe that the opioid crisis has taken a hold of state’s smallest city in the last couple of years, leading to a rise in homelessness and encampments forming along the Winnipesaukee and Pemigewasset rivers.
Franklin Police Chief Daniel Poirier told the Globe that the DEA’s characterization of the raids made “a mockery” of legitimate arrests.
Franklin Police did not respond to the Monitor’s request for comment at the time of publication.
