Pubdate: Thu, 23 Nov 2000
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2000 Globe Newspaper Company.
Contact:  P.O. Box 2378, Boston, MA 02107-2378
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Author: Associated Press

VT. WOMAN CLAIMS FALSE DRUG ARREST

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. - A Brattleboro woman is suing local and State Police
in connection with a drug raid that resulted in charges against her -
charges that were later dropped.

After being arrested on Nov. 27, 1997, Lisa Hutchens was jailed,
strip-searched, and verbally berated, her suit states. It adds that
she was named in newspaper articles as a suspected drug dealer,
subjected to random drug tests, and forced to reveal her medical records.

Hutchins is seeking unspecified damages from State Police Lieutenant
Thomas L'Esperance, Brattleboro Police Detective Michael Peterson, and
State Police Detective Shawn Lundrigan.

''I remember looking at my mug shot and thinking it didn't even look
like me; my face was so swollen because I'd been crying,'' she told
the Brattleboro Reformer in May 1998, shortly after she was cleared.

At the time of her arrest, Hutchins had no criminal record and was
studying to become a juvenile probation officer. She had an alibi -
two people said they had been with her the day police said she sold
crack to Lundrigan.

But by the time a private investigator had reviewed police documents
and the US attorney's office had filed to dismiss the charges,
Hutchins had lived through six months as a suspect in a highly
publicized drug bust.

According to the suit, officers thought Hutchins fit the description
of a black woman then known only as ''Jane Doe Julie,'' who had sold
Lundrigan crack cocaine at 44 Maple St. on Nov. 3, 1997.

Three weeks later, according to the suit, Peterson and L'Esperance
showed up at Hutchins's apartment, questioned her about selling crack
cocaine, and then asked her to step outside. Lundrigan, sitting in a
parked car across the street, signaled that he recognized Hutchins as
''Julie.''
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