Peabody Police arrest 3 in major drug bust at Route 1 hotel

PEABODY – Peabody Police, with help from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Essex District Attorney?s Drug Task Force, arrested three out-of-state men Wednesday at the Route 1 Holiday Inn for possessing 11 kilos of cocaine they allegedly intended to sell, Det. Dennis Bonaiuto said Wednesday night.Police arrested Jason Grilli, 38, of Laval, Quebec; Valentine Torres, 33, of Juarez, N.M.; and Gerardo Rodriguez Florez, 27, of Tuscon, Ariz., and charged them with trafficking cocaine and conspiracy to violate drug laws. They will be arraigned Thursday morning at Peabody District Court.?As a result of this seizure, a significant amount of cocaine has been taken off the streets of Peabody and the region. I am very grateful to the Peabody Police Investigators who worked so hard on this case, and to the Essex County Drug Task Force and the DEA for their important roles in this investigation,” Peabody Police Chief Robert Champagne said in a press release.Bonaiuto said the investigation had been going on for “a while,” and that it was still ongoing, though it had culminated Wednesday with the arrests and the seizure of $1.1 million worth of cocaine.The men were arrested after police set up surveillance at the hotel and were able to arrest Grilli as he made a cocaine sale at about 12:15 p.m.?Grilli was arrested in the parking lot of the hotel and the other two suspects were arrested immediately inside the hotel,” Bonaiuto said. “All suspects were taken into custody without incident.”District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett said in the press release that the bust was another example of the work that can be done with inter-agency cooperation between local and federal agencies.?These types of partnerships are crucial if we are to be successful in our efforts to take these dangerous drugs off the streets,” he said.If convicted of trafficking cocaine over 200 grams, the men face up to 20 years in state prison, with a minimum mandatory term of 15 years.Taylor Provost can be reached at [email protected].