SEABROOK — Thanks in part to the resources provided by the regional Operation Granite Shield grant, police said, men from Massachusetts and Seabrook are in custody awaiting prosecution on felony drug-related charges.
Frank Souther, 33, of 21 Folly Mill Road in Seabrook and Jose Rivera, 55, of 334 High St., Lawrence, Mass., were arraigned Friday at Rockingham Superior Court on multiple drug charges. Rivera is charged by Seabrook police with three felony B charges for the sale of narcotics, namely cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin. Souther is charged with possession of heroin as well as the breach of his bail conditions on theft charges brought when he was arrested in Seabrook earlier this month.
According to Seabrook Deputy Chief Brett Walker, the arrests took place Thursday, Jan. 11, made after a months-long investigation conducted by Seabrook and its Operation Granite Shield partners in the Portsmouth, Hampton and Greenland police departments.
Souther was arrested at about 8 p.m. on Thursday night at Seabrook's Market Basket South, Walker said, while Rivera was arrested in the parking lot at O'Brien's General Store around 6 p.m. As well as officers from Portsmouth, Hampton and Greenland, Walker said Seabrook officers involved in the investigation were, Detective Sgt., Daniel Lawrence, Detectives Scott Mendes, Frank Brown, Jr., and Jim Deshaies, as well as officers Daniel Henderson and Ryan Kane.
"The members of the Seabrook Police Department thank the Portsmouth, Hampton, and Greenland Police departments with assisting us in this long and on-going investigation," Walker said today. "The sale and purchase of drugs will not be tolerated in the town of Seabrook."
Operation Granite Shield is a state-wide New Hampshire law-enforcement program focusing on apprehending criminals involved in the illegal drug trade in the state. It provides grant funding to local police departments to augment their fights against the opiate epidemic affecting the Granite State and many other states throughout the nation. Recently, it was found that New Hampshire has the highest per capita death rate due to drug overdoses in the United States.
According to Walker, being part of Operation Granite Shield is one more way the Seabrook Police Department can take pro-active measures to remove illegal drugs from the town's streets and rid the community of drug dealers.