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FALL RIVER — The first witness testified Thursday at a hearing for a drug case that a defendant is moving to dismiss due to alleged misconduct over a sexual relationship between a New Bedford investigating officer and his confidential informant.
The informant, Carly Medeiros, was romantically and sexually involved with now-retired New Bedford police detective Jared Lucas, and also with two defendants in drug-trafficking cases, one of whom is Steven Ortiz, court records state.
Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Mark Burke, who was involved in the 2017 investigation into Ortiz for the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office, testified during the evidentiary hearing that he did not know about the relationship between Medeiros and Lucas.
At one point during questioning from Ortiz’s attorney, Rosemary Scapicchio, Burke said he was not “aware of the truth” of the sexual relationship allegations. Scapicchio then presented him with a sexually explicit photo of Lucas (entered as evidence), which Lucas had texted to Medeiros along with a message referring to seven years of love between them.
Asked if he would have used Medeiros as a confidential informant (and information she provided), or allowed Lucas to participate in the investigation if he had known this, Burke stated, “No.”
Ortiz was charged with trafficking heroin and conspiracy to violate drug law after being investigated by state and New Bedford gang unit police. His case is still pending. Scapicchio filed a motion to dismiss his charges in March due to “egregious misconduct,” citing Medeiros’ role as an informant and her relationship with Lucas.
In court filings, Ortiz’s counsel argued Lucas used “sex as a weapon” with Medeiros to investigate Ortiz. The Boston Globe first reported on Lucas’ misconduct, and described a “tawdry love triangle” between Lucas as detective, Medeiros as informant, and Ortiz as alleged drug dealer.
Before the investigation started, the State Police received a federal grant to fund investigations into mid-level, “savvier” drug offenders in certain cities, including New Bedford, Burke explained. He said Lucas shared information about Ortiz when they first met in 2016 and during subsequent meetings, based on information Lucas said he obtained through Medeiros.
Asked if the grant required registration of informants or a vetting process for them, Burke said nothing was clearly laid out in the policy in that regard.
Scapicchio, in court, said Lucas did not register Medeiros as a confidential informant until 2019, years after the investigation took place.
Burke said he became suspicious of Lucas’ relationship with Medeiros, and when he asked him about it, said Lucas denied he was engaged in an inappropriate or unprofessional relationship with Medeiros.
He also testified that Lucas called him and apologized after the Globe story ran. Asked if he reported Lucas’ call to the DA’s office or New Bedford police investigators, Burke said he did not because it was a personal call and he did not interpret it as an “admission of guilt” or information to report to his superiors.
He also said he did not ask Lucas questions during the call because he knew he “would be in this seat someday.”
Bristol County Assistant District Attorney Stephen Butts said he had no comment as it’s an ongoing case.
“We think any time a police officer, especially a detective in a position of power, enters into an inappropriate relationship with a confidential informant … it taints the entire investigation,” Scapicchio told The Light.
Burke’s questioning in Fall River Superior Court lasted most of the day, keeping other witnesses from being called.
The next witnesses, including several active New Bedford police officers, are set to appear in New Bedford Superior Court late next month. Per Scapicchio, Lucas was delivered a summons to testify, but did not appear in court Thursday.
In June, Superior Court Judge Renee Dupuis dismissed the drug case of Miguel Martinez after allowing a motion to suppress the evidence obtained by New Bedford police through a search warrant, in which Lucas and Medeiros were also involved. She ruled that Lucas’ “gross misconduct” with his informant had tainted the search-warrant process.
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
Here we go again with these state troopers lying through their teeth and committing perjury!!! Look at the Karen read case and see how horrible this corrupt organization is that we call the state police! What a joke! The trooper states it was a personal phone call so he didn’t report it! Yeah ok here we are again