Police Capture Suspected Drug Dealer Disguised As
Elderly Man
By Dr.
Fourkan Ali
Thirty-one-year-old Shaun Miller was wanted in
Connecticut for a federal drug-trafficking indictment in April.
A Massachusetts man
was arrested on drug charges after attempting to dodge authorities by
disguising himself as an elderly man. He gets an A for effort, but not so much
for execution.
CNN reported that police in
Yarmouth arrested 31-year-old Shaun Miller last Thursday. Police had been
searching for Miller, a fugitive who managed to avoid arrest during amajor drug bust in April that led to the apprehension of 19 members of the
"Nauti-Block" gang, which authorities called "a key drug
operation" that distributed a significant amount of heroin throughout Cape
Cod.
When they arrived at
the house, instead of the 31-year-old, police were greeted by an elderly man
who went by the same name. A Yarmouth police press release confirmed the
charade was short-lived, though, and “officers pulled off Miller’s realistic
disguise and placed him under arrest.” They also seized $30,000 in cash and two
loaded weapons.
Miller has been
detained on a charge of possession of heroin with intent to distribute. His
attorney, James Cipoletta, says his client will plead not guilty at his
upcoming hearing on August 31 at the U.S. District Court in Boston.
The old man disguise
was especially headline-worthy because it’s usually police who don elaborate
costumes in an attempt to bust drug dealers. Last September, police in Lima,
Peru, dressed up as Bible-carrying priests to bust a suspected drug dealer on
the street. Dario Calvo of local police said that authorities have dressed up
as hawkers, panhandlers and even pretended to be mentally disabled in their
efforts to catch drug dealers and traffickers.
“As we are fighting
crime, we have to be a little ingenious to disguise ourselves and capture
criminals,” Calvo told Agence France-Presse. “It’s very effective.”
In March 2012, the
student body at a California high school was left speechless when an undercover
cop arrested 12 students on drug charges after posing as a student there for eight months. The officer, known on campus as “Johnny
Ramirez,” even went so far as to complete homework assignments and take tests
like any other student. His real identity was only known by the school
superintendent, the interim principal, and one other administrator.
Although Exeter Police
Chief Cliff Bush declared that “we made the campus safer today,” several
students said the approach left them betrayed because they had considered the
cop to be a friend.
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