Police Dog Drug Bust Accentuates Busy Holiday Week For Vernon Cops

VERNON, CT — It has certainly been a busy holiday week for the Vernon Police Department.

Starting at Christmas Eve and Heading into New Year's Eve, the VPD made 27 arrests. In one notable incident, police dog Franco helped break up a narcotics operation in the central part of town on Dec. 26.

At about 6 p.m. that day, officers were dispatched to the Valley View Lane area to investigate a suspicious vehicle complaint. Franco was called to the scene because officers suspected that the man and woman in the vehicle were in possession of drugs.

Franco alerted officers to the presence of narcotics and, after a search, officers then located 190 wax folds of fentanyl, 25 grams of crack cocaine, 6 grams of cocaine, MDMA pills and assorted drug paraphernalia.

The man, identified as 43-year-old resident Albert Pierce, of Hartford, was charged with interfering with police, possession of a controlled substance, possession with the intent to sell, conspiracy to commit the sale of narcotics and the use of drug paraphernalia. The woman, identified as 24-year-old Manchester resident Victoria Ann Tromley, was charged with the same crimes, minus the interfering charge.

Other arrests over the period included five for drunken driving and three more for drug related-offenses.

On Christmas Day, a 20-year-old Ellington man was stopped for speeding after police observed him raveling at better than 60 mph on a local road.

At 9 in the morning on the day after Christmas, a 42-year-old Vernon resident was arrested charged with possession of a controlled substance, evidence tampering, interfering with police, violation of a protective order, third-degree assault and disorderly conduct.

It was one of several assault arrests during the period.