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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Ionut Alexandru is sought by Cambridge police in connection with an attempted ATM scam in the Alewife area.

A sergeant working in the mostly empty jail building in East Cambridge was arraigned Tuesday in Woburn District Court on the charge of trafficking cocaine, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said.

The suspect, Michael Dell’Isola, 51, of Somerville, was arrested Monday when he went to Woburn for a drug deal and the person said to be delivering cocaine and $500 was an undercover state trooper, said Cara O’Brien, the deputy director of communications for the District Attorney’s Office. The state troopers began their investigation based on a tip received in April.

Judge Paul Yee ordered Dell’Isola held on $1,000 cash bail with the condition that he stays away from the Sheriff’s Department, his employer. His next court date is June 8 for a probable cause hearing.

The 22-story building where Dell’Isola has been employed, at 48 Thorndike St., once held Middlesex Superior Court and Cambridge District Court. Now only the jail remains, and the future of the building is uncertain.

ATM scam attempt

Meanwhile, Cambridge Police have made one arrest and are looking for a second suspect in the placing of an ATM “skimmer” — a device that captures customer card information when an automated teller is used — in an Alewife Brook Parkway bank.

Police were called at about 2 p.m. Saturday on a report of a “suspicious person going in and out” of the bank area and tampering with the machine. Having identified a suspect and spoken to witnesses, police asked for help from the U.S. Secret Service, police communications specialist Daniel Riviello said Tuesday. A Secret Service agent came and pried off the card skimmer.

Razvan Pascu, 30, of Bucharest, Romania, was arrested and charged with possession of a burglarious instrument, conspiracy, larceny of a credit card and attempt to commit a crime.

A second suspect, Ionut Alexandru, also of Bucharest, fled before police arrived, Riviello said. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Anyone with information about this incident or similar schemes is asked to call Cambridge Police at (617) 349-3300 or send an anonymous tip via text message to Tip411 (847411). Begin your message with Tip650 and then type your message; you will get a response from the Cambridge Police with the option to continue communicating

This post relied heavily on material from press releases.