Pubdate: Wed, 15 Mar 2006
Source: Daily News, The (Newburyport, MA)
Copyright: 2006 Essex County Newspapers, Inc
Contact: http://www.ecnnews.com/cgi-bin/05/ntother.pl?submitletter
Website: http://www.newburyportnews.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/693
Author: Jessica  Benson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

MOM AND SON'S ARREST A SIGN OF GROWING HEROIN PROBLEM

NEWBURYPORT -- Monday's arrest of an Amesbury mother and son  on armed
robbery charges is another sign that heroin is driving an increase in
crime throughout the county, said the district attorney.

Yesterday morning, a day after allegedly teaming up to rob the Irving
gas station and convenience store in Amesbury, Miles Neofotistos, 20,
and his mother, Mary A. Neofotistos, 49, were led into Newburyport
District Court in handcuffs, arraigned and ordered held on $10,000
cash bail. The 59 Pleasant Valley Road residents are accused of
threatening a store clerk with a used needle and syringe in order to
get money to buy heroin. The robbery may be an instance of what Essex
County District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett described as "a
precipitous rise in crime by what we call opiate-addicted
individuals," those hooked on either heroin or OxyContin. Blodgett
said yesterday he does not have hard figures, but that the use of
opiates skyrocketed in Essex County during 2005 due to an increased
availability  of the drugs.

He said crimes by drug addicts, such as purse snatchings in malls,
home break-ins and armed robberies, have risen correspondingly. He
said addiction "respects no boundaries," that people of various ages
and income levels are becoming hooked, in both urban centers and small
towns. Mary A. Neofotistos, who has no prior criminal record, told
police she picked up her heroin addiction from her son about eight
months ago. Prior to her arrest, she was working as a caretaker for
two handicapped adults. Blodgett said perpetrators of drug-related
crimes often quickly confess to police and admit they are addicts.

He said the district attorney's office favors  treatment for those not
accused of violent crimes. "I just think we need more treatment on
demand," he said. Amesbury saw a spike in heroin and related crime
about two years ago, said police Lt. Gary Ingham.

"I wouldn't say there's an epidemic problem in Amesbury, but I
wouldn't say there is not a heroin problem, either," Ingham said. He
said the drug most often  arrives via Lawrence. Most of the town's
property crimes can be linked to addiction, Ingham said.

He also said adequate police presence and aggressive work by the
department -- including traffic enforcement -- have proven successful
deterrents for larcenies, house breaks and armed robberies, though the
town is not immune. "The bad guys, if you will, don't come to Amesbury
unless they have to, because they know they're going to be caught,"
Ingham said. According to police records on file at Newburyport
District Court, the mother and son confessed to the robbery when
interviewed a few hours later.

They said  they had seen a television news story about someone robbing
a story in Salem  using a needle and decided to copy that method. Both
are charged with armed robbery; the son is also charged with assault
with a dangerous weapon.

Not guilty pleas were entered on the pair's behalf . At about noon
Monday, feeling "dope sick" and "desperate," they carried out their
plan, the Neofotistoses told police.

The mother waited outside in a car while the son entered the store
with a syringe and threatened the clerk, who handed over approximately
$150.

Miles Neofotistos "came back to the car and stated he can't believe he
did that," according to a detective's report based on the confessions.
The pair said they then went to Lawrence and bought two bags of heroin
and one of cocaine, took the drugs and returned home. Police were
waiting for them, having identified them through their car
registration and witness reports. The  robbery was caught on a gas
station surveillance camera. Geoffrey DuBosque, the court-appointed
lawyer for the mother's arraignment, argued that she should be free
while awaiting trial in order to undergo treatment for her drug
addiction outside the confines of MCI-Framingham, the state's
correctional facility for women.

He also said she may have been intoxicated while speaking with police.
"She tells me when (her son) went into the store, she had no idea he
was going to do anything," DuBosque said.

But Judge Peter Doyle said he would not send the suspects to a
"non-secure" setting. He ordered both mother and son held on $10,000
cash bail, half the amount the prosecution sought.
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