Police recover cocaine, guns, cash in apartment

LYNN – A judge ordered one man held without bail on prior charges, and set $15,000 and $1,000 cash bails for three Lynn residents after police recovered more than a half-kilo of suspected cocaine, guns and cash from an Essex Street building.Maurice Fussell, 36, of 401 Essex St. #1, and Richard Bradley, 34, of 401 Essex St. #3, were arrested and charged with trafficking Class B cocaine over 200 grams; possession with intent to distribute Class A heroin, subsequent offense; possession of a firearm without an FID card, three counts; and possession of ammunition without an FID card; at 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.Dottie Crowder, 29, of 401 Essex St. #1, was arrested and charged with the same crimes, although the heroin possession was listed as a first offense.A not guilty plea was entered on each defendant’s behalf at their arraignment in Lynn District Court Wednesday afternoon.Police received a “no-knock” warrant to search 401 Essex St. – identifying Fussell as the target – and a special response team performed the raid at approximately 11:37 p.m., according to a report by Lynn Police Officer Ross Panacopoulos. Officers found Fussell and Crowder on the second floor of the building and Bradley in the rooms in the attic.”They were asked what we were going to find and all stated ?nothing,'” Panacopoulos said. “As this was being done Lt. Holey came out and stated that crack cocaine had already been found.”Officers reported recovering bags of suspected crack cocaine, suspected marijuana, suspected heroin and cash in various rooms in the house. Officers also found keys to a safe, police said. Police reported that inside the safe they found two loaded 9-millimeter (mm) handguns, multiple rounds of ammunition and an extra magazine of a gun that was not recovered, according to police.A plastic bag from Burlington Coat Factory in the safe also contained a plastic bag with 515 grams of cocaine, police reported.A second safe contained another 9 mm gun and 16 individual bags of either suspected crack or suspected cocaine; the largest of which weighed 31.25 grams, police said.A prosecutor requested $500,000 cash bail for Fussell. Prosecutors also requested the judge revoke Fussell’s bail for an open Essex Superior Court case where Fussell is charged with dealing Class B drugs, according to court documents.The Commonwealth requested $100,000 cash bail for Bradley and $25,000 cash bail for Crowder, according to court documents.Judge Stephen Abany revoked Fussell’s bail in the Superior Court case, ordering Fussell held for up to 60 days, according to court documents. Bradley was held on $15,000 bail, and Crowder posted $1,000 cash bail, according to court documents.Cyrus Moulton can be reached at [email protected].