Springfield heroin charge denied

A Springfield woman faces a charge of heroin trafficking after police searched the car in which she was riding last fall.

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Photo by Eric Francis Chelsea Ovaitte appears in White River Junction criminal court Wednesday to face a charge of heroin trafficking. Published January 6, 2017 in the Rutland Herald Springfield heroin charge denied By ERIC FRANCIS WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A Springfield woman faces a charge of heroin trafficking after police searched the car in which she was riding last fall. Chelsea Ovaitte pleaded not guilty to the felony charge Wednesday in White River Junction criminal court. She was released on conditions and a $10,000 unsecured appearance bond. If convicted, she could be sentenced to serve up to 30 years in prison. Springfield Police Officer Ryan Prince said in his affidavit that the trafficking charge resulted from a traffic stop Sept. 6 at the corner of Spring and Union streets in Springfield. The car, driven by Ovaitte’s boyfriend Francesco “Brisco” Escribano, was pulled over for a missing front license plate, police said. Prince said as he made the stop, Escribano quickly parked and Ovaitte got out of the passenger seat and walked rapidly into a nearby apartment. Escribano, a suspected member of the “Jersey Boys” drug gang, was sentenced July 2014 to three years in jail for selling heroin and cocaine, the officer said. Escribano “appeared upset and angry that I was making contact with him,” Prince wrote. The officer said Escribano “was very fidgety and kept putting his right hand in his pocket and pulling up his shorts.” Escribano was unable to give a clear account of where he and Ovaitte had been driving to and from, the affidavit said, and when asked if there were any drugs inside the car he replied, “There shouldn’t be.” After Officer Dan Deslauriers walked around the car with his police dog, Indy, the dog “alerted” that the car might contain drugs, according to the affidavit. A search warrant was obtained and police found what appeared to be 186 bags of heroin under the front passenger seat, the affidavit said. After lab tests confirmed the substance to be heroin, Prince said an arrest warrant was issued for Ovaitte. The police affidavit did not indicate if any further evidence tied Ovaitte to the drugs. She was later arrested in Massachusetts and jailed in that state. Ovaitte’s criminal record in Vermont includes three convictions during the past four years for disorderly conduct. http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20170106/NEWS02/170109789