State Troopers Make Heroin Trafficking Arrests in Western Massachusetts

At around 2 a.m. on Sunday Trooper Scott Boutell, assigned to State Police-Shelburne Falls, along with Trooper Daniel Carmody, a recent graduate of the 86th Recruit Training Troop, were patrolling Route 91 in Greenfield.

While passing the 40 mile marker they observed a blue Toyota sedan entering a construction zone while traveling approximately 70 miles per hour. The speed limit in the construction zone is 55 miles per hour. After exiting the construction zone the Troopers activated the cruiser’s blue lights and stopped the vehicle in the area of Exit 50.

After stopping the Toyota both Troopers approached it and identified the operator as Victoria Thompson, 28, of Cavendish, Vt., and a 31-year-old male passenger. While speaking to them Trooper Boutell observed a large illegally possessed firework in the rear seat area. Trooper Carmody returned to the cruiser to conduct an electronic inquiry of the passengers in the vehicle. He discovered that Thompson’s driver’s license was not valid. Thompson was removed from the vehicle and placed under arrest, then seated in the rear of the cruiser. The passenger was removed from the vehicle in order for it to be towed from the scene.

While conducting a required inventory of the vehicle’s contents prior to it being towed, Troopers discovered a large amount of narcotic paraphernalia along with a small amount of a substance suspected to be Crystal Methamphetamine.

A follow-up search of the trunk yielded a large amount of individually packaged baggies of a substance suspected to be Heroin. The seized narcotics were later weighed totaling approximately 80 grams.

At this point, the passenger was also placed under arrest. He initially provided a false name and date of birth to the Troopers but was eventually identified as Marshall Gagne, 31, of Springfield, Vt. It was discovered Gagne had an extraditable warrant for his arrest out of Vermont.

Thompson and Gagne were both transported to the Shelburne Falls Barracks for booking. A bail commissioner was contacted and set bail at $75,000 for each. They were scheduled for arraignment at Greenfield District Court for the following offenses.