Cops used a suspected drug dealer’s court-ordered GPS monitor to track him after he made more fentanyl sales, the Plymouth District Attorney’s Office said — joining a long list of other defendants unclear on what the electronic devices can do.
“It’s not the smart ones who get caught,” said Tom Nolan, a former Boston Police lieutenant, now a Merrimack College criminology professor. “It never ceases to amaze me the stuff that people will do while they’re wearing GPS devices.”
Rosanio Morton, 24, was charged with trafficking of a Class A substance, fentanyl, and trafficking of a Class B substance, cocaine, according to the DA.
Morton pleaded not guilty and his bail was set at $30,000 during his arraignment in Brockton District Court, authorities said.
But he remained behind bars Tuesday when a judge revoked his bail for open cases out of Boston and Plymouth. The Plymouth case last year also involved fentanyl trafficking, the DA’s office said.
Plymouth DA Timothy Cruz told the Herald GPS monitoring can be used as “an alternative to putting people in custody.”
But for “some individuals, it just plain doesn’t work,” Cruz said. “Some people, unfortunately, the only way we can prevent them from committing additional crimes is to have them in custody.
“Here he is about a year later … allegedly still doing the same activity with the most serious poison that is on the streets right now,” said Cruz. He noted that Morton is considered innocent until proven guilty, but added, “That is what we need to continue to look at to make sure people who are dangerous like that — and I consider that dangerous — are held appropriately so they’re not back out hurting other people.”
State police investigating narcotics distribution in Brockton identified Morton as a fentanyl dealer. Police executed a search warrant at Morton’s residence on Cherry Street at about 9:50 p.m. Monday, seizing plastic bags with about 22.3 grams of suspected fentanyl and about 31.5 grams of suspected cocaine hidden in ceiling tiles, the DA said. Morton was not home at the time, so cops tracked him down using his GPS monitoring bracelet shortly before midnight.
Past cases of criminal suspects caught thanks to their GPS bracelets include:
- A man wanted for the murder of a South Boston man in October 2017, and a drive-by shooting the same day, was caught in a Rhode Island motel thanks to his bracelet.
- In February 2018, an ankle bracelet-wearing suspect reportedly pistol-whipped a North End convenience store cashier and took off with $1,500 cash. He was later tracked and busted.
- In March 2018, a suspected gang member was arrested for gun possession. During a stakeout, cops said, his GPS bracelet was “pinging” away.
- On Aug. 2, 2018, two juveniles, one out on a GPS bracelet, were followed by police with a warrant into the DeWitt Community Center in Roxbury, where one of the juveniles fought with cops. Police reported finding a loaded .22-caliber revolver wrapped in a T-shirt and stuffed in a backpack.
