Thursday, April 20, 2000 Older Editions

Cops nab alleged AHS dealers

By Neil Fater

Andover police have arrested two teen-age Andover High students they consider to be the main suppliers of marijuana at the school. But police say the two students didn't sell drugs for the money.

After all, they operated their drug business out of a home worth nearly $590,000.

Drug trade -- Haggerty with evidence.

"They wanted the name. They wanted to be know as the guys to go to," says Detective Jim Haggerty.

But in the end, it was that name that caused the alleged dealers illegal business to go up in smoke.

Police arrested Frank Chen, 17, of 12 Cloverfield Drive, and a 16-year-old Andover male last Wednesday, April 12, at the Chen home. They were both charged with possession of marijuana and possession with intent to distribute.

Haggerty says the two students were so well known, that Andover's zero-tolerance drug unit heard rumors about them for months.

"If anyone at the High school wanted marijuana, we believe these were the guys that they would see," says Haggerty. "It's been a problem for the neighbors for some time."

Police used a confidential informant to buy drugs from the 16-year-old at the Chen home before making the arrest.

"(Before the buy) I checked the informant to make sure there wasn't anything on him. I kept him in my sight at all times and told him not to enter the home," says Officer Michael Lane.

The informant went to the front door, gave the accused dealer $40 and was given about one-eighth of an ounce of marijuana wrapped in cling wrap, says Lane.

After hearing from other informants, police went to the Cloverfield Drive home April 12, and spoke to Frank Chen's mother.

"She apparently had no knowledge this was taking place. She gave us permission to look through the house," says Haggerty. "She was very cooperative with us in terms of helping to solve the problem."

Police say they did not find anything in Frank Chen's room, but found a child's baby-blue, red and yellow box filled with $140 in another bedroom. The box was adorned with the word 'Lovely' and cartoon pictures of kids, rabbits and cats playing together.

Told that police could bring a dog to the house, the 16-year-old went into a crawl space and pulled out a brown paper bag with an electric and hand-held scale in it and a large, clear bag filled with marijuana, say police.

Then, say police, the 16-year-old went into another cubby hole and produced a metal tin that contained both larger bags of marijuana and prepackaged bags similar to the one purchased by the informant.

Frank Chen declined to return a phone call, and the 16-year-old did not speak for the record.

Police say they confiscated about 9.47 ounces of marijuana.

"For Andover, this is a substantial amount. When you get to the larger cities, this is just a needle in a haystack," says Haggerty.

"What we're hearing is, there's a lot of marijuana at the school. That's the No. 1 drug there. Whether it's on the uprise I can't say," he says.

But Haggerty doesn't expect this to be the last drug arrest. He says that the Andover drug unit is hearing from students who trust the officers, and are tired of seeing drugs in or around the school.

"This is part of a series of investigations we are doing at the High School," says Haggerty. "We expect, sometime in the future, to make more arrests as this continues.

"This operation is shut down, and we don't expect it to start up again. If it does happen again, we feel confident we'll hear about it."