Suspected Dealer With Special Needs Kid In Car Caught With Drugs: Cops

VERNON, CT — State and Vernon police teamed up to corral a suspected drug dealer driving around with a special needs child in his car, an arrest report indicates. He is facing 14 criminal charges as a result.

According to a state police arrest report, 9:40 p.m.Saturday, a trooper noticed an Acura MDX with a fake temporary plate and illegal tinted windows exit Interstate 84 eastbound at Exit 67. The vehicle was pulled over in the center of Rockville and Vernon police stopped to assist, according to an arrest report.

In the vehicle were the driver, another adult and a 2-year-old special needs child who was not on a proper car seat, according to an arrest report.

The driver, identified as 31-year-old Hartford resident Luis M. Santos-Anaya, not only had an invalid license, but police uncovered in the vehicle 184 grams of cocaine packaged for sale, 32 grams of crack cocaine, 67 grams of "purple" fentanyl — 210 packages and 20 raw grams — and assorted drug equipment, according to an arrest report. He was also out on bail for several felonies, state police said.

He was charged with:

• Transporting a child younger than 2 without the proper restraint
• Driving an unregistered vehicle
• Falsifying a marker plate
• Driving without insurance
• Driving without a license
• A Tinted window violation
• The use of drug paraphernalia
• Operating a drug factory
• The sale of cocaine
• The sale of a narcotic substance
• Possession of a controlled substance (third offense)
• Risk of injury to a child
• Second-degree forgery (2 counts)

Santos-Anaya posted a $200,000 bond and has a court date of April 9, records show.