By Jonathan Graham
Sentinel & Enterprise (Fitchburg, Massachusetts)
FITCHBURG -- Police stumbled onto a 2-foot-long alligator along with 56 grams of crack cocaine and three children in a raid on a Main Street apartment Friday morning, according to a police report filed at Fitchburg District Court.
One of those arrested as a part of the search warrant, Kevin Gomez, 18, is also charged with four counts of armed robbery in connection with a series of muggings on Myrtle Avenue Thursday night.
State and Fitchburg police executed a “no-knock” search warrant at 1301 Main St., Apt. 1, Friday and found the alligator and crack cocaine, as well as two digital scales, more than $400 and a large-capacity, .40-caliber magazine containing several rounds, a state police report said.
Police found the American Alligator living in a “very dirty” 55-gallon aquarium, and a dead mouse floating in the water, said Michael Ralbovsky, general curator for Rainforest Reptile Shows in Beverly.
Ralbovsky will care for the alligator, which he said was in relatively good condition.
“It needs a land area, it needs special lights, it needs filter for the water, and it had none of that, it was just in a tank,” he said.
Only Victor Gomez, 23, was in that apartment at the time of the police raid, but Kevin Gomez, 18, and his mother, Carmen Hernandez, 42, arrived later, according to state Trooper David Napolitano’s police report on the 9 a.m. raid.
Police allegedly found documents linking the Gomez brothers and Hernandez to the apartment, leading to their arrest, Napolitano’s report said.
Victor Gomez’s girlfriend came to the apartment while police were still there and took custody of her three minor children, being “advised that future charges against her might be forthcoming.”
Police also arrested Hernandez, but her court file was not made available Monday.
Victor Gomez, of 1301 Main St., was ordered held on $3,000 cash bail Friday after being charged with drug, weapon and animal possession charges.
Kevin Gomez, who told the court he lives on Wood Street, has similar charges as his brother, as well as several counts of armed robbery.
Police previously arrested Fitchburg residents Ian Dobson, 19, and Joshua Membrino, 18, in connection with Thursday’s armed robberies.
District Court Judge Arthur Haley III ordered both Dobson, of 210 Mt. Elam Road, and Membrino, of 95 Mechanic St., held without bail Friday.
District Court Judge Elliot Zide released Kevin Gomez on $500 bail after Assistant District Attorney Robert Pellegrini said police reports do not outline Gomez’s involvement in the armed robberies.
“I honestly don’t know what the evidence is against him,” Pellegrini said at Monday’s hearing in reference to the armed robbery charges.
Kevin Gomez’s attorney, Roseann Feldeisen of Fitchburg, said her 18-year-old client has two young children and does not live in the Main Street apartment where the police raid occurred.
He had been holding a steady job as a bellhop at a Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel and living with his girlfriend on Wood Street, she said.
Feldeisen said police called Kevin Gomez to come down to the Main Street apartment Friday morning, where they arrested him.
“Now I found out they also have charged him with the other (drug) charges,” Feldeisen said at Monday’s hearing.
Fitchburg Police Det. William R. Lawrence arrested Kevin Gomez in connection with last Thursday’s series of armed robberies near the corner of Myrtle and Congress Streets, according to Lawrence’s police report filed in Fitchburg District Court.
“I went to the scene and informed the drug officers that as a result of our investigation, one of their suspects, Kevin Gomez, was wanted by us for armed robberies and that I would like to arrest him,” Lawrence wrote in his report.
Police arrested Dobson and Membrino Thursday night after getting reports of robberies occurring in the area.
Dobson told police that he went with Kevin Gomez to Myrtle Avenue to buy marijuana, and saw Membrino and two other men robbing people, according to a police report by Sgt. Joaquin Kilson.
Dobson denied that he or Kevin Gomez had any involvement in the robberies, according to Kilson’s report.
Dobson also told police that this same group had been responsible for a “rash of robberies with the same MO,” around the Fitchburg State College area, according to Kilson’s report.
Officer Christopher R. Cord pulled his gun on Membrino after Membrino allegedly ran away and then hid behind a vehicle on Green Street.
“The suspect continued to hide behind the motor vehicle and was told repeatedly to ‘get on the ground,’” Cord wrote in his police report. Cord wrote that after Membrino complied, he allegedly found cash, a necklace, rosary beads and a black pocket knife on him.
The suspects allegedly threatened their victims with statements such as, “Do you want to die, then give us your money,” according to police reports.
Police had charged Kevin Gomez, along with Terrence Harper, 18, and Alexis Gomez, 20, in connection with a drive-by shooting on Goddard Street nearly a year ago.
A judge dismissed the charges because the victim said he could not identify the shooters.
Harper and Alexis Gomez attended the hearing Monday, along with Kevin Gomez’s girlfriend and parents.
Copyright 2007 MediaNews Group, Inc. and Mid-States Newspapers, Inc.