Second drug trafficking arrest ruins Lynn man’s plea deal

SALEM – A Lynn man, who was ready to enter a plea agreement on a cocaine trafficking charges has now been indicted for the same thing after being arrested on the Lynnway last month.An Essex County grand jury handed up a single indictment Wednesday afternoon against Duane S. Collins, 51, of 154 Lynnway, #207, charging him with trafficking over 28 grams of cocaine, a crime that carries a minimum mandatory punishment of five years in state prison.The new charge arises from his arrest on Feb. 1 in Lynn when state police allege that Collins ran a red light and was passing cars on the Lynnway. Police, suspecting he might be intoxicated, followed him and pulled him over in front of his condominium. They thought he might have alcohol in the car after observing a cooler in the vehicle and began looking for open containers, but instead they apparently discovered an ounce of cocaine, over 28 grams, inside the cooler in his car.In 2008 Collins was sentenced to 5 to 71/2 years in state prison after being convicted of trafficking nearly two ounces of cocaine in Peabody.Assistant District Attorney Michael Patten introduced evidence during that two-day trial that on July 6, 2005 police discovered 38 grams of cocaine, nearly two ounces, in 34 individual bags in his vehicle when police conducted an inventory search after Collins was found to be too intoxicated and unable to drive his red Ford Explorer.Peabody police were called to Su Chang’s Chinese restaurant at 373 Lowell St. a little after 5 p.m. on a report of a drunken and disorderly patron at the bar who was too intoxicated to drive. Police escorted Collins from the establishment and determined he was too drunk to drive and called a cab, but when Collins refused to leave the parking lot in the cab, police arrested him.Before towing the Ford SUV, authorities conducted a search and found the cocaine on the passenger’s seat in a camera case.Collins was recently granted a new trial after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a different case in 2009 that prosecutors must call the chemists who analyzed the drugs to testify at trial. In his case no chemist was called, so he was granted a new trial.Collins had been free on $20,000 cash bail and was suppose to plead out to the older case last month in an agreement reached by Patten and defense lawyer Russell S. Sobelman. The plea agreement involved a three-year punishment, which also included giving him credit for the time he had already served. But now, with his new arrest, that plea agreement is off the table.Collins is due back in court on April 5 on the older case and is expected to be arraigned on the new indictment.