New York man arrested on drug trafficking charges in Peabody

PEABODY – A judge ordered $50,000 cash bail for a New York man police said they arrested Saturday driving a vehicle with a secret compartment containing more than 100 grams of suspected heroin and cocaine.”The search proved successful in locating a sophisticated electronic drug ?Hide’ within the interior of the vehicle,” Peabody Police wrote in a press release Sunday. Police estimated the drugs inside to be worth approximately $15,000 on the street.But the man’s defense attorney questioned the arrest.”Police said he was driving in an unusual manner, which included observing all speed limits, stopping at all stop signs and stop lights, and always using directionals to signal turns,” defense attorney Ronald Ranta said in a phone interview Monday evening. “We should be a little nervous if that constitutes probable cause.”Juan L. Pena-Pena, also known as Hilarino Reyes Santiago, 34, of 77 Division Ave. #11, Brooklyn, N.Y., was arrested and charged with trafficking in heroin; trafficking in cocaine; providing false identification to a police officer; and a forged Registry of Motor Vehicles document, a New York Driver’s License; Saturday.Pena-Pena was arraigned Monday in Peabody District Court where a plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf.Police patrolling Walnut Street Saturday noticed a Lexus officers found “odd” because it was parked with the driver’s side door about 6 inches from the wall of a building, according to a report by Peabody Police Officer David Murphy.Officers allegedly observed the car for about 40 minutes. Police said a man inside the vehicle was intermittently talking on his cell phone and the vehicle’s brake lights were periodically turning on and off, but the vehicle was not moving.Officers then reportedly followed the Lexus to the Northshore Mall parking lot where it met another vehicle.After a brief conversation between the drivers, the driver of the Lexus got out of the vehicle to look around, and the other car sped off, police said.Police reported stopping the other vehicle. The driver allegedly told officers he was going to buy $50 of heroin from the man in the Lexus but that person “got spooked.” Police reported finding no drugs on the driver or a passenger in the car, and let both go.Police stopped the Lexus and reported finding several clues that suggested the vehicle was used in street-level drug transactions, according to court documents. A K-9 unit was called and led officers to find a secret compartment in the car’s dashboard, police said.Police found 88 individual packets of suspected cocaine, 112 individual packets of suspected heroin, and 38 individual packets of suspected crack cocaine along with packaging materials and several air fresheners in the compartment, according to the report. Police also found approximately $1,300 in suspected “ill-gotten gains” in two of the suspect’s pockets and inside the vehicle’s door handle, according to the police report.Police booking the suspect discovered he was using a false New York driver’s license with the name Hilarino Reyes Santiago, according to court documents. “Observations were also made indicating the subject has made previous attempts to permanently alter his forensic fingerprints,” police said in the press release. But the fingerprints revealed the suspect’s identity as Pena-Pena, police said.Essex Assistant District Attorney Janelle Amadon requested $100,000 cash bail for Pena-Pena.But Ranta questioned the probable cause of the traffic stop leading to his client’s arrest. He noted a person carrying large amounts of cash at the Northshore Mall in late November is hardly unusual.Ranta said he requested $20,000 cash bail.Judge Richard Mori ordered Pena-Pena held on $50,000 cash and scheduled him to return to court Dec. 23, according to court documents.