Out-of-towners arrested on heroin charges in Holyoke

HOLYOKE, Mass. (WWLP) - Four people, including three from Franklin County, were arrested in Holyoke on Friday, after police say they came to town to buy heroin.

Lt. Matthew Moriarty told 22News that Walter Fitzpatrick, 23, Thomas Peterson, 22, and Matthew Hutchinson, 22, all of Turners Falls, and Wehnonah-Rae Miller-Sackman, 20, of Brattleboro, Vermont are all facing drug charges.

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According to Moriarty, police detectives had been conducting an investigation into heroin being distributed out of 556 South Bridge Street. A pair of detectives had been watching the building, and just before 4:00 Friday afternoon, saw the four leaving the area in a car after entering the building and staying for a short amount of time.

Two other detectives found the four inside the car while it was parked on Cabot Street, and Moriarty says the officers questioned them. Through their conversation, Moriarty says the detectives learned that the suspects had pooled their money together to come to Holyoke and buy heroin.

After talking to the suspects, police conducted a search, which Moriarty says turned up packaged heroin, and the four were arrested.

Peterson is charged with trespass, possession of a Class A substance (heroin), possession with intent to distribute a Class A substance, and possession of a Class B substance (cocaine). Miller-Sackman, Fitzpatrick, and Hutchinson each face a single charge of conspiracy to violate drug law.