Over the course of 10 days, investigators watched as informants twice bought drugs in front of Shewchuk's family home in Wilbraham.
Wilbraham Police Department station.WILBRAHAM - A police informant claimed to investigators that 17-year-old James C. Shewchuk had been “giving away heroin” and telling people that it was crushed Percocet, court documents show.
Police began investigating Shewchuk, the son of a Springfield police officer, during the week of May 2.
Over the course of the next 10 days, investigators watched as informants twice bought drugs in front of the family home, and on May 13, officers from the regional narcotics task force raided the house and arrested the teen.
It was his father, James L. Shewchuk, who answered the door that morning when officers, armed with a warrant, arrived to search the home. The elder Shewchuk, a member of the Springfield Police Department since 1983, faces no charges in connection with the case and has declined comment.
The probe began after investigators received information which alleged the younger Shewchuk had been selling marijuana, Percocet and heroin from his family’s home. Details of the investigation are contained in documents filed in Palmer District Court.
No heroin was discovered inside the Shewchuk home during the raid, but stashes of marijuana, cash and equipment used to smoke and prepare pot for sale were found.
Police, aided by a drug-sniffing dog, found three bags of marijuana and more than $900 in cash inside a safe in a closet in the younger Shewchuk’s bedroom. A large water bong - a device used to smoke marijuana - was also found in the closet along with a pill bottle of marijuana seeds in a sweatshirt, according to the complaint prepared by Wilbraham police officer Sean Baldwin.
Elsewhere in the teenager’s bedroom, the complaint states, police found a notebook on a dresser with instructions for growing marijuana, a pint of Smirnoff vodka and five cell phones.
Another upstairs bedroom yielded a backpack with a digital scale, another cell phone, a bag of marijuana and a pipe inside. Other marijuana and drug-related paraphernalia were found in a second-floor bathroom and in the property’s pool house, according to the complaint.
James C. Shewchuk faces charges of distribution of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and distribution of Percocet (a Class B drug), according to the complaint. Court documents identify him as a student at the Twain School, which is part of the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative in West Springfield.
The suspect denied the charges at his arraignment; he was released with conditions that he undergo screening for drugs and alcohol while awaiting prosecution.
One informant reported being present when Shewchuk sold a bag of marijuana and heroin to a friend in front of Shewchuk’s home, according to the reports on file in the district court.
That “friend” also became an informant and told police that he had recently received a small bag of powdery substance, which he had been told was crushed Percocet. The informant reported having snorted the powder and being told later that it was heroin, which was originally purchased from Shewchuk, the police document states. The informant claimed Shewchuk stated it was Percocet at the time of the sale, according to the police reports.
The informants cooperated with investigators in trying to set up sales of heroin and marijuana, according to the reports. One arranged to buy marijuana, but reported that Shewchuk claimed he did not have any heroin or Percocet for sale.
The informant “stated that he/she believed that Shewchuk was lying and that he was not selling the heroin at this time due to issues that had occurred at Minnechaug Regional High School,” according to the complaint.
Wilbraham Police Capt. Roger Tucker said Friday the incident involving Minnechaug described in the complaint was not drug-related. Tucker said that while he believes Shewchuk is a former Minnechaug student, there is no evidence that he ever brought drugs into the school.
Investigators oversaw two “controlled buys” outside the Shewchuk home, according to the reports. A “controlled buy” typically involves the purchase of drugs using marked money and observed by police so it can be documented as evidence for trial.
In one such buy, according to the report filed with the court, officers observed as the two informants parked their vehicle in front of the Shewchuk home. The suspect, identified by Baldwin in the report as Shewchuk, then came out, entered the vehicle and remained inside for 60 to 90 seconds. Afterward, the informants told police that they had purchased a bag of marijuana for $60, according to the report.
During a second purchase conducted as part of the investigation, the informants bought marijuana and two Oxycodone pills.
On the basis of the drug purchases and other information, Baldwin sought a search warrant for the home on May 11, and officers arrived shortly before 8 a.m. on May 13.
As described in the police report, Baldwin knocked on the door and rang the doorbell numerous times. After a short time the homeowner, James L. Shewchuk, answered the door and when advised about the warrant, the elder Shewchuk led police to his son’s second-floor bedroom. The younger Shewchuk was on his bed, according to the report.
James L. Shewchuk’s status as a police officer is not affected by the investigation regarding his son and his home, according to Springfield Police Sgt. John M. Delaney. “It involves his adult son,” said Delaney, aide to Commissioner William J. Fitchet.
Hampden District Attorney Mark Mastroianni did not return repeated telephone calls seeking comment.
Application for Criminal Complaint against James Shewchuk
Anne S. MeKenzie, executive director of the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative, declined this week to discuss Shewchuk or confirm if he is currently enrolled there. Twain is an alternative high school, which currently has 17 students.
McKenzie said the staff at Twain does keep a watchful eye out for signs that students may be abusing drugs. “We have a lot of staff, we have very few students, (and) we take all kinds of precautions,” she said.
Multiple queries, made by telephone and email, to Minnechaug school officials seeking comment on the case and whether it raises concern about the potential for drug use among students at the high school were not returned.
Minnechaug serves the towns of Wilbraham and Hampden.
This is not the first time that the elder Shewchuk has been in the public eye.
In 2004, Shewchuk was among five white officers placed on administrative leave pending a probe into allegations made by a black school principal that they assaulted him while he was having a diabetic attack in his car at a gasoline station in a South End neighborhood.
The Police Commission went on to find no probable cause to pursue disciplinary action against the five officers. Two years later, the city paid a $180,000 out-of-court settlement to the principal, Douglas G. Greer.
In 1995, the Police Commission cleared three police officers, including Shewchuk, of charges stemming from a party for a white patrolman who fatally shot a black motorist. The incident raised concern in the community, and the Western Massachusetts Order of Black Law Enforcement Officers complained that it was white officers celebrating the death of a black civilian and an investigation was launched.
Some black leaders contended the event was a racist gathering, that a ham was presented to the returning patrolman during the party and that such a gift was a Southern tradition for whites who killed blacks. Those allegations never were corroborated.