A crackdown on rising open-air drug activity in Porter Square – where one man was bold enough to package heroin for resale in plain sight – has resulted in some recent arrests, Cambridge police said Friday.
Officers spotted a man on Monday hunched over by the Porter Square MBTA train station, facing away from the street, packaging a brown powdery substance, police spokesperson Robert Goulston said. The officers believed it to be heroin that the man was preparing to sell and arrested Patrick Harrington, 32, of Randolph, charging him with possession to distribute a Class A drug and narcotic-drug violations.
They were already on the alert from an incident Aug. 20 at the same spot, when Misty Lottman, 23, of Somerville, and Jacob MacDonagh, 43, of Pembroke, were arrested and charged with possession of a Class A drug, we well as conspiracy to violate drug law; MacDonagh was also charged with receiving stolen property, police said.
On routine patrol, officers saw a group of people including Lottman and MacDonagh who had on them a brown powdery substance believed to be heroin, Goulston said. A third person, who police said was unhoused, carried a backpack that held a large, double-edged bladed weapon, a large sum of money and credit cards – all except the weapon reported stolen out of Boston earlier in the day. Officers were able to find the owner of the stolen property and return it.
The person wearing the backpack was summonsed to Cambridge District Court for carrying a dangerous weapon, possession of a Class A drug and conspiracy to violate drug law.
The department’s Family & Social Justice Section and Clinical Support Unit connect people in vulnerable populations with services and resources, but when drug activity rises to the criminal level, arrests are made, Cambridge police commissioner Christine Elow said in the Friday release.
“Our officers develop relationships in the community and an understanding of potential issues and then apply the right approach,” Elow said.
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