Dedham Man Arrested by Norwood Police for Trafficking in Opiates

Norwood Police arrested three males, including one Dedham resident, for allegedly trafficking in prescription narcotics on Monday afternoon, and confiscated several hundred pills with a street value of over $9,000, according to a Norwood Police statement issued Tuesday afternoon.

Giovanni N. Ibanez, 27, of Dedham; Humberto Valdez Torres, 43, of Miami, FL; and Chris Hubler, 57, also of Miami, FL, were arrested and charged with trafficking in opiates after police observed them engaged in suspicious activity in the parking lot of the Rama Shopping Center on Washington St. in Norwood.

According to the Police statement, officers working in plainclothes with the department's anti-crime unit, assigned to investigate the sale of drugs in areas known for high drug activity. While in the area of the shopping center just after 3 p.m. on Monday, they observed the subjects "acting in a suspicious manner."

"Their behavior was consistent to that of the drug trade," the statement reads. "The subjects had entered and exited a pharmacy within the shopping center and they remained in the area while talking on cell phones. Officers spoke with the staff of the pharmacy and learned that one subject had just filled a prescription for Oxycodone."

At this point in the investigation it was discovered that one subject was in possession of a pill bottle prescribed to another. Ibanez and Torres were placed under arrest while Hubler remained under surveillance. During booking another pill bottle was discovered with Hubler's name on it. Detectives then placed him under arrest.

All three were scheduled to be arraigned this morning in Dedham District Court.