New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Two suspects with lengthy criminal records, including time in the house of correction, are back on the streets Wednesday, May 9, despite being arrested yet again Tuesday, May 8 on drug charges.
Tyrelle Depina, 25, of 50 New Plainville Road, New Bedford, was arrested May 8 on charges of possession of class B substance with intent to distribute (subsequent offense), conspiracy to violate drug laws and on a warrant.
He has 66 adult arraignments and 17 open cases in Bristol Superior Court, including kidnapping, strangulation, assault and battery, intimidation and possession of a loaded firearm.
He also failed to appear in court May 1 on another pending case and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
He failed to appear in court 18 times in his lengthy criminal career. He has previously been convicted for resisting arrest, twice for possession of a handgun and twice for dealing cocaine.
With this history of violence and court defaults, the district attorney’s office requested $10,000 bail and asked he be held without bail on the pending cases. Judge Robert Ovoian refused to revoke his bail and set bail at $500, which Depina made. He is now free.
The second suspect, Neil Gomes, 30, of 137 Rounds St., New Bedford, was arrested May 8 on charges of failure to stop at a stop sign, failure to stop for police, possession of class B substance with intent to distribute (subsequent offense) and conspiracy to violate drug laws.
Gomes was released without bail by Judge Ovoian, despite the district attorney’s request that bail be set at $10,000.
Gomes has 34 adult arraignments and has failed to show for court three times. He has been sentenced to serve one year in the house of correction for narcotics distribution, 88 days for vandalism and 30 days for dealing marijuana. Twenty-five of his cases have been dismissed in New Bedford District Court.
DePina and Gomes were arrested Tuesday, May 8 by members of the New Bedford Police Department narcotics unit as part of an investigation into street-level drug activity in the west end.
Police were traveling north on Rotch Street at about 10 p.m. when they observed a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed and failing to stop at a stop sign. Police stopped the vehicle, but the car then immediately fled before being stopped again on Reed Street.
In backtracking the route of travel, police discovered 80 tablets of Percocet.
Police found more than $600 on DePina and more than $4,500 on Gomes.
