The Enterprise News is reporting that four Bridgewater State students, two of whom are football players, are accused of operating a “drug house” operation off-campus.

Drug crimes in Bridgewater and throughout Massachusetts are serious charges as the government continues its war on drugs. Lawmakers have continually made penalties more extreme and in drug cases, police and prosecutors can often tack on many charges for a single episode.

In situations where investigators accuse people of operating a criminal enterprise out of their homes, Massachusetts criminal defense attorneys will look at fighting the legality of the search warrant. A search warrant is obtained by police officers and signed by a judge when they believe they have proof that a crime is going on inside a person’s house or business.

While detectives may be able to obtain a search warrant, take evidence from a house and file criminal charges, success in challenging a search warrant often leads to a reduction or dismissal of charges.

If detectives misled the judge who signed the warrant by providing false facts or if they didn’t quite know what they had at the time, a trial judge can nix the search warrant after the fact, which typically eliminates the evidence that was collected.

This is another reason to never make statements or admissions to police, as you never know what evidence will be in play at trial. If evidence is suppressed after motions by a defense attorney, but the defendant confessed, the prosecution could still attempt to go to trial. If there is no statement and no evidence, there is no case.

In the Bridgewater State case, Patrick McGirr, 20, of East Longmeadow, Tyler Trainor, 21, of Saugus, Eric Eldred, 21, of Methuen and Bradley Head, 21, of Ashby, were arrested. The state believes McGirr was the “ringleader” and he was held on $25,000 bail after an arraignment in Brockton District Court. Bail for the others was between $1,5000 and $2,500.

Police have alleged the group was selling drugs such as marijuana to cocaine and Perc30 out of their off-campus apartment. Police said they investigated for the last month before making the arrests.

Investigators stopped McGirr’s vehicle recently after obtaining a search warrant for it. Detectives said they found one ounce of marijuana and 10 Oxycodone pills inside a hidden compartment. Police then searched the apartment and allegedly found cocaine, Oxycodone pills, marijuana, $7,000, a heat sealer, digital scale and other evidence the police believe were related to drug dealing.

The news article doesn’t state why detectives searched the home after searching the vehicle. The Easton Journal reports that detectives had a search warrant for the apartment as well. The arrests were made by the WEB Task Force run by officers from Bridgewater, Bridgewater State University, East Bridgewater, West Bridgewater and Whitman.

Massachusetts Criminal Lawyer Michael DelSignore represents clients facing serious misdemeanor and felony charges throughout the state.

The Law Offices of Michael DelSignore are conveniently located in Stoughton, Attleboro, New Bedford and Westborough.

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