After Standoff with Armed Man, 3 Arrested on Drug Charges

Salem Police arrested three people on drug charges following a brief standoff with an armed man in a Dunkin' Donuts parking lot on Wednesday.

Bruce Kater, 54, of Salem was arrested on two counts of possession of a controlled drug (prescription medications) and one count of felonious use of a firearm. Mark Nagle, 45, and Marie Laspesa, 46, both of Haverhill, MA were arrested for possession of a controlled drug (prescription medications). 

According to a Salem Police press release, at 2:15 p.m. Wednesday, plain clothes Salem Police detectives observed what appeared to be a hand-to-hand drug transaction taking place in a motor vehicle. The vehicle was parked in the Dunkin' Donuts parking lot on Lowell Road.

As the officers approached the vehicle to speak with the occupants, one of the detectives noticed that the driver had a handgun hidden beneath his right leg. After a brief, tense standoff, the occupants were removed from the vehicle without incident. The firearm was found to be loaded and quickly accessible. The detectives discovered that they had walked right up on a drug transaction that potentially was going to go bad.