FALL RIVER -- The city man who turned himself in after police identified him as the alleged perpetrator of a fatal hit-and-run crash in Westport last month was ordered held Tuesday on $50,000 cash bail.
Gerardo Lugo, 54, of 43 Cherry St., has been charged with driving without a valid license and leaving the scene of a crash, resulting in the death of 30-year-old Fall River resident Stephanie Tripp. Prosecutors also brought a separate case against Lugo on a charge of heroin trafficking after investigators armed with a search warrant allegedly found 197 grams of heroin in his apartment.
Conviction on a charge of leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death carries a sentence of two-and-a-half to 10 years in prison, according to Assistant District Attorney Patrick Driscoll.
Tuesday’s hearing in Fall River District Court had been scheduled as a dangerousness hearing, but Driscoll withdrew the government’s request that Lugo be held without bail before trial.
Driscoll instead asked Judge David Sorrenti to hold Lugo on $10,000 bail for the drug trafficking charge and $40,000 for the hit-and-run, a request that Sorrenti called “generous” given the seriousness of the charges and Lugo’s history of missing court dates.
“I think the request, quite honestly under the circumstances, is very generous. We’ll leave it at that,” said Sorrenti.
Driscoll said Tripp went out with her boyfriend and friends for drinks in Wareham the night of May 7 and, after returning home to a Westport residence on Old Bedford Road, an argument prompted her to leave the house on foot.
Lugo’s defense attorney, Frank Camera, said it was dark at the time of the crash, around 8 p.m., and Lugo was unable to stop his vehicle in time to avoid Tripp, “who unfortunately put herself in a situation where Mr. Lugo’s vehicle could not avoid colliding with her.” Camera said investigators documented skid marks on the road at the scene that indicated Lugo pressed the brakes.
Camera said Lugo initially stopped the car, got out and was talking on his cell phone at the scene. According to the prosecutor Driscoll, Lugo did not identify himself at the "very chaotic" scene as Tripp’s friends and witnesses began to gather.
Tripp died at Rhode Island Hospital May 16, just over one week after the crash. On May 29, Lugo turned himself in at the Westport Police Department, “well after the government sought the (public’s) assistance” identifying a suspect, said Driscoll.
According to Camera, those gathered at the crash scene were understandably “hostile,” which “may have played a part in the decision, at that point, not to stay.” Police were unable to get a license plate from surveillance footage or witnesses, Driscoll said.
Driscoll said a witness attempted to follow the car that hit Tripp but eventually lost track of it. On May 20, investigators received an anonymous tip about a BMW with damage to its front end and hood parked on Cherry Street in Fall River, Driscoll said.
According to Driscoll, pieces of plastic that investigators found near the BMW were consistent with plastic pieces recovered from the scene of the crash. He said a strand of hair was found on the vehicle’s windshield.
Lugo resided in the 43 Cherry St. apartment outside of which the vehicle was parked, the prosecutor said. During the time when Lugo was aware investigators were looking for him, the defendant was seen on surveillance footage obtained by state police visiting a Rhode Island casino, according to Driscoll.
According to the defense attorney, the Cherry Street apartment was leased by Lugo’s brother, who lives in Nashua, New Hampshire, and who allowed Lugo to live there. The defendant’s brother, who Driscoll said cooperated with investigators, also bought the BMW for Lugo, though it was registered in Lugo’s brother’s name.
Driscoll said Lugo’s brother told police he spoke to Lugo on the phone May 20, when Lugo told him police were outside his apartment. Lugo told his brother he had hit a woman with his car in Westport but fled because he was “nervous” about not having a valid driver’s license, according to the prosecutor.
Camera asked the judge to set bail in the amount of $7,500 for the charge of leaving the scene of the crash and $2,500 for the charge of heroin trafficking. He said police armed with a warrant to arrest Lugo, not a search warrant, entered the apartment where Lugo lived through a window May 21 and did not find him there.
He said police searched the apartment and allegedly located the key to the BMW, a wallet and an ID card investigators said belonged to Lugo out in plain view. With that information, investigators applied for and were granted a warrant to search the apartment and “formally search and seize” that evidence, said Camera, adding that Lugo denies having any knowledge of the alleged heroin found in the apartment.
Asked by Judge Sorrenti how Lugo, a father of four, makes a living, Camera said Lugo works construction. Arguing the defendant may pose a flight risk, prosecutor Driscoll said that Lugo, who appeared handcuffed in court and listened to proceedings translated by an interpreter, was born in Puerto Rico. Camera said he has resided in and around Massachusetts for 25 years.
Sorrenti agreed with the prosecution's request for total bail in the amount of $50,000, noting Lugo's criminal history is “replete” with defaults on past cases on charges in New Bedford.
Lugo was jailed for a short time for violating probation on an assault and battery charge in 2002, defaulted on two hearings related to another ultimately dismissed assault and battery charge, and was charged with forgery of a driver's license in 2005, according to Driscoll.
Lugo is due back in court for a probable cause hearing July 10.