Three Arrested on Drug Charges in T.J. Maxx Parking Lot

Three people were arrested on drug charges in the T.J. Maxx parking lot. 

Brookline Police Officers saw three people walk by “in a lethargic manner” at about 5:20 p.m. on June 12. The officer was able to see track marks on one of the forearm of the men walking by. The other male party was texting and dialing a number “in a frantic manner.” A younger woman walked with them.  

The three continued up Harvard Street towards the Sovereign Bank and down to the parking lot adjacent to the T.J. Maxx. The three headed towards the rear of the lot near Lawton Street. The officer observed the trio looking around “frequently in all directions in an effort to identify anyone observing them.”

The officer observed one of the suspects hand out what appeared to be pills. The woman then took a sip out of a Dunkin Donuts coffee cup and the two men reportedly ingested the pills. The officer decided that he had just watched one of the men distribute prescription pills to the other man and the woman and decided to call for backup.

The officers then watched one of the men light something and pass it to the others. Officers pulled in through the Lawton Street entrance and the reporting officer walked up to the party and identified himself. The officer reportedly smelled freshly burned marijuana.

One of the men said that they were just hanging out when the officer asked what they were doing in the parking lot. The officer told them what he saw and asked for an explanation. One of the men said that he shared a “Percocet” with the other man. The man said that he was prescribed to 15mg Percocet, but he didn’t have his prescription on him. The man told police that he only had one pill on him, and had shared it with the other man. The officer asked about distributing anything to the woman, which he denied.

The officer looked inside the bottles and found four small plastic bags, each had been tied off with 10 pills in each bag. One bag was ripped open, which had six loose pills.

The officer who spoke to the other man noticed a bulge in his rear waistline and frisked the man. The officer discovered a collapsible baton, and three pill bottles, which the suspect claimed were his. His information was on each of the bottles. There were three pills in his bottle, which were different than the others. To this, the man said “Oh, those green ones aren’t mine, he gave me those,” pointing to the first man in question.

The woman told police that she was one of the men’s girlfriends and that she met up with the two men at the Dunkin Donuts. When the officer searched her purse, he found a pill bottle with “a couple of roaches in there.” In another pill bottle were several other pills, which belonged to one of the men.

Officers charged Derek Shepard, 41, of 786 Broadway, Everett with possession of a Class C substance with intent to distribute and conspiracy to violate the drug laws.

Kimberly Acevedo, 20, of 14 Victoria Street, Everett and Wyatt Paige, 33, of 30 Leach Street, Salem were charged with conspiracy to violate the drug laws.