ADAMS, Mass. — Police arrested have arrested an Adams man thought to be connected to two break-ins earlier this month.  

 

Andrew D. Allard, 32, was arrested June 14 after making his way from Adams to North Adams in an alleged attempt to cash in some stolen collectible coins.

 

The coins reportedly match those stolen from a home on June 9 and Allard is implicated in another break-in on June 11. 

 

According to a press release from the Adams Police Department, police were first alerted after they say Allard attempted to place these collectible coins into a Coinstar machine located at Adam's Hometown Market. The machine rejected the coins, which prompted him to go to the front desk where store employees recognized the coins as collectible.

 

Employees questioned Allard, according to police, and he exited the market leaving the coins behind.

 

Officers conducted an investigation while Allard headed north to Walmart. North Adams Police were contacted and store management was made aware.

 

At Walmart, the press release states, it was reported that Allard purchased a Tracphone minutes card with the coins. He then went to customer service, where he returned the card for a refund.

 

Officers were alerted and Allard was confronted when leaving the store.

 

Upon further investigation, it was found that the coins Allard allegedly used had been stolen during a June 9 house break-in in Adams.

 

Allard was arrested on a charge of receiving stolen property. He was booked and held at the police station on $2,000 cash bail. He was scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Northern Berkshire District Court in North Adams.

 

Police say Allard also was arrested for breaking and entering into an Upton Street residence on June 11.

 

The homeowner's security system picked up the intrusion and an image of Allard was recorded, according to police. He was arrested and held on $1,000 bail until he was arraigned on June 12 in Northern Berkshire District Court and released on personal recognizance.

ADAMS, Mass. — Police are investigating an incident early Thursday morning that left three injured with knife wounds. 

 

"The investigation is fluid and ongoing," Police Chief Richard Tarsa Jr. wrote in a press release late Thursday morning. "This is an isolated in targeted incident ... at no time was the public in any danger."

 

Just after 1 a.m. Thursday, police responded to Commercial Street near Cumberland Farms to find a person who had been stabbed.

 

Police and emergency services searched the area and officers found two more individuals on lower Linden Street suffering from knife wounds.

 

All three victims were transported to Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, where they were being treated for non-life threatening injuries.

 

The identities of those involved are known but have not yet been released. 

 

Tarsa wrote that the investigation is being conducted by the Adams Police and the state police detective unit assigned through the district attorney's office. 

ADAMS, Mass. — Emergency responders in Adams and North Adams dealt with two motor vehicle accidents on Tuesday afternoon. 

 

The first occurred about 4 p.m. in front of the McDonald's restaurant in Adams and involved three motor vehicles headed north on Commercial Street leading up to the light. 

 

The vehicles were a gray Ford 150 extend cab, a dark blue Chevrolet Traverse sport utility vehicle and a gray Jeep Renegade sedan, in that order. 

 

The truck incurred damage to its front end, knocking off the front bumper; the SUV's rear hatch was dented in and it received minor damage to its front end; the Jeep's rear bumper and hatchback was damaged. Two people were taken from the scene by ambulance, including the driver of the SUV whom firefighters and EMTs took some time to remove from the vehicle. 

 

The truck was towed by Al's Service Center and the SUV by Dean's Repair Shop. Police, firefighters, Adams Ambulance and North Berkshire EMS responded to the scene. Traffic was diverted for nearly an hour with north bound vehicles detoured through the Hoosac Valley Elementary School driveway to Liberty Street. 

 

In North Adams, a van and a coupe collided on Ashland Street in front of Pizza Works at about 4:43 p.m. The blue Dodge van appeared to be exiting the pizzeria parking lot and the Chevrolet Cavalier was southbound. Both vehicles incurred significant front-end damage to no appeared to be injured. 

 

The van was towed by Cariddi Auto and the Chevy by Mohawk Auto Wrecking. City police and firefighters along with North Berkshire EMS responded to the scene. Traffic was diverted between Blackinton Avenue and Davenport Street for about 40 minutes. 

 

ADAMS, Mass. — Firefighters battled a suspicious structure fire on Gould Road on Saturday that resulted in a total loss of the building.

 

Assistant Fire Chief Tim Ziemba said the fie was already well underway when the department responded to 218 Gould Road around 4 p.m.

 

"It was about 50 percent involved when we got there and the remaining half of the house had flames within," he said. "Within 20 minutes it had pretty much gone through and collapsed ... it was a total loss and leveled right to the ground."

 

He said the building was a seasonal home and was vacant, however, this meant the driveway was not plowed making it more difficult to reach the structure. 

 

"The driveway was unplowed so we had to run, I am estimating, 1,000 feet through an unplowed driveway to get to the building," he said. "There was a considerable amount of time we couldn't drive to it."

 

Ziemba said water was also an issue and that without hydrants, the department had to utilize tankers.

 

"We had to use a tanker shuttle, which was set up another 500 feet below," Ziemba said. "They had a tanker shuttle set up. We pumped up about 500 feet up to another truck, which pumped up to the scene. So it took a whole lot to get that setup and get that rolling."

 

He said the cause of the fire is still under investigation but noted the blaze was suspicious. 

 

"It is suspicious and under investigation, I can't say anything further," he said. 

 

Firefighters remained on scene until about 10 p.m. on Saturday.

 

"The fire marshal was on scene and they conducted an investigation," he said. "We had to finish up hot spots after they were done ... it was labor-intensive and time-consuming."

 

The Adams Forest Wardens were also on scene as well as the Cheshire Fire department. Clarksburg firefighters covered the station.

BOSTON — Daniel Borer of Adams is accused of importing synthetic drugs from China through the U.S. Postal Service and using them to manufacture "massive wholesale quantities of smokeable synthetic cannabinoids" for sale throughout the United States. 

 

Borer, 42, and his alleged accomplice, postal worker Josephine McLaughlin, 65, of Stoneham, were arrested Thursday by law enforcement officials and arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessey in Boston. Their cases were transferred to U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in the Southern District of New York.

 

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman for the Southern District of New York said Jonathan Riendeau, 38, of Port Saint Lucie, Fla., who operated several websites on which he sold the drugs, has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the government.

 

The government charges that Borer and McLaughlin operated the import scheme from at least February 2014 until this month. SSC, which can be addictive, are often marketed as safe, legal alternatives to marijuana. In fact, SSC are not safe, according to government officials, and may affect the brain much more powerfully than marijuana; their actual effects can be unpredictable and, in some cases, more dangerous or even life-threatening.

 

The synthetics, colloquially referred to as K2 or Spice, were sent through the mail to locations throughout the Unitd States. Some of the SSC distributed by the scheme were branded with colorful graphics and distinctive names, including "Dead Man Walking," "Klimax," "Zero Gravity," "Twilite," "Psycho," and "Get Real." The branded SSC were sometimes marked "not for human consumption," or "potpourri." Other of the SSC were distributed in bulk quantities. 

 

"Trafficking of synthetic cannabinoids – sometimes called K2 or Spice – poses a serious threat to public health and safety. Packaged attractively to appeal to teenagers and young adults, synthetic cannabinoids are in reality a toxic cocktail that can be very dangerous to consume," Berman said in a press release. "As alleged, Daniel Borer and Josephine McLaughlin imported massive quantities of synthetic cannabinoids and distributed them in smokeable form to retail dealers throughout the United States. Thanks to our law enforcement partners, Borer and McLaughlin have been arrested and their dangerous business has been dismantled."

 

Borer and McLaughlin are each charged with three counts of conspiring unlawfully to import and distribute controlled substances and controlled substance analogues. Each count can carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

 

Riendeau pled guilty on Jan. 31 to six counts: three counts of conspiracy unlawfully to distribute controlled substances and controlled substance analogues; two counts of unlawful importation of controlled substances and controlled substance analogues; and one count of unlawfully distributing a controlled substance.  Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. 

 

The case is being investigated by the New York Police Department, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the New York Field Office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations and with the aide of the Berkshire County Law Enforcement Task Force and state police assigned to the Berkshire District Attorney's Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert B. Sobelman is in charge of the prosecution. 

 

The charges contained in the superseding indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.