Police: Haverhill man whose children were exposed to illegal drugs faces new drug charge

Mike LaBella, The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass.
·2 min read

Mar. 25—A Haverhill man who was free on bail after a drug distribution charge was arrested again, this time after he made a drug deal in the doorway of his apartment building, police said.

In the first incident which happened Jan. 19, officers used a search warrant to enter the 107 Cedar St. apartment of Raymond Pramataris, where two children ages 4 and 15 were present, police said. Because the children were in a home where illegal drugs were kept, police said they notified a state agency responsible for the well-being of children.

Police said they seized about 58 grams of fentanyl and about 65 grams of methamphetamine from the apartment. During a court hearing Jan. 20 in Haverhill District Court, Judge Cesar Archilla set bail on Pramataris at $100,000.

According to court officials, Pramataris, 42, was later released after posting bail, which was reduced to $3,000.

In the latest incident, police said that on March 9 a drug deal involving Pramataris and another man happened in the doorway of the Cedar Street apartment building where Pramataris lives.

During Pramataris' arraignment on March 10 in Haverhill District Court on the new charge of distribution of a Class A drug (fentanyl), subsequent offense, the judge set bail at $30,000 and scheduled a probable cause hearing for April 29.

According to officials at Middleton jail, Pramataris was still in custody as of March 18.

According to a police report on file in Haverhill District Court, on March 9 about 11:45 a.m. detectives in plain clothes assigned to a gang unit were in the Winter Street area of the Acre neighborhood when they noticed a man walking along the street and frequently checking his cell phone.

Police said they followed the man to the area of Cedar Street and 7th Avenue, where they had received complaints about illegal drug sales.

Police said they watched as the man stepped onto the porch of Pramataris' apartment building and stood there for about a minute while on his cell phone. Police said Pramataris then appeared.

"The two stepped inside the threshold of the doorway together for a moment before emerging together again," the report said. "Pramataris stayed on the porch and the male left walking back the way he came from."

Detectives stopped the man, who told them he had just purchased $80 worth of fentanyl from Pramataris, police said. Officers seized 3.1 grams of fentanyl from the man, police said.

Police obtained an arrest warrant for Pramataris and, later that day at 3:24 p.m., arrested him at 25 7th Ave., according to a police report.

Police said that in addition to the charges in January and the latest charge, Pramataris has a long criminal history that includes a prior guilty conviction in Salem, Massachusetts, District Court for distribution of a Class D drug.

Recommended Stories

  • Moving Average Crossover Alert: Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM)

    Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM) is looking like an interesting pick from a technical perspective, as the company is seeing favorable trends on the moving average crossover front.

  • Denmark to extend suspension of AstraZeneca COVID shot amid doubts

    Denmark will prolong its suspension of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 shots by three weeks pending further investigations into a potential link between the vaccine and rare cases of blood clots. Denmark was among the first countries in Europe this month to suspend the use of AstraZeneca's vaccine after reports of a small number of unusual cases of blood clots, registered both in Denmark and elsewhere.

  • Deputy US marshal shot, killed man at Charlotte gas station while serving warrant

    Frankie Jennings had turned 32 on the day he was killed outside a gas station on The Plaza.

  • ‘Crazy things happen’: Biden’s next spending spree fuels a fight over risks

    The president’s team is preparing a $3 trillion spending proposal to power through Congress. They’re betting markets and the economy will cooperate long enough to pass it.

  • Andrew Vaughn will not be stopped. Not even by the White Sox

    The 22-year-old is playing his way onto the opening day roster, even if it costs Chicago down the road.

  • Atlanta man detained after carrying five guns into store just two days after Boulder shooting

    Authorities are still investigating the man’s motive

  • Lower cap leads to more cuts than usual in NFL

    If it seemed as if NFL teams have been shedding contracts nearly as fast as signing them in recent weeks that’s because it’s almost true. With a shrinking salary cap in a sport with few contracts that are fully guaranteed, teams have spent the weeks leading up to free agency and the first few days of the new league year getting out of deals signed in recent years when there was more money available to spend. Whether it was Kansas City getting rid of banged-up and expensive starting offensive tackles Mitchell Schwartz and Eric Fisher, the Raiders cutting ties with Lamarcus Joyner and Tyrell Williams after building their free agent class around them, or Tennessee shedding starting defensive backs Adoree Jackson, Malcolm Butler and Kenny Vaccaro, veterans around the league have been sent to the chopping block.

  • ‘How dare you’: Ted Cruz and Lauren Boebert condemned over prayers for Boulder shooting victims despite push on gun rights

    ‘You care more about keeping the gun lobby on your donor list than you do about any gun victims’

  • Jay Leno apologizes for past anti-Asian jokes: 'In my heart I knew it was wrong'

    Jay Leno's apology comes after a recent rise in violent hate crimes against Asian American communities.

  • 'Turkey First:' Erdogan's power push poses challenge for Biden

    When Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan last received Joe Biden on official business, in August 2016, Erdogan had just sent tanks into Syria. Seated by Erdogan's side on a cream-and-gold-leaf chair in Ankara's presidential palace, then-Vice President Biden said, "We're supportive of the operation." U.S. air support helped that incursion, as Washington put on a show of solidarity after a coup attempt against Erdogan the previous month; Biden visited parliament to see the bomb damage inflicted when rogue troops in tanks and fighter jets had tried to seize power.

  • Taiwan admits it has begun mass production of long-range missile

    Taiwan has begun mass production of a long-range missile and is developing three other models, a senior official said on Thursday, in a rare admission of efforts to develop strike capacity amid growing Chinese pressure.

  • Philippines deploys more patrol ships amid rift with China

    The Philippine military has ordered more navy ships to be deployed for “sovereignty patrols” in the South China Sea, where a Chinese flotilla has swarmed around a disputed reef and ignored Manila’s demand to leave the area. Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has asked about 200 Chinese vessels he described as militia boats to immediately leave Whitsun Reef, a shallow coral region about 175 nautical miles (324 kilometers) west of Bataraza town in the western Philippine province of Palawan. China ignored the call, insisting it owns the offshore territory and that the vessels were sheltering from rough seas.

  • Gov. Cuomo is snowed under an avalanche of scandals as new reports claim he offered his family special access to COVID-19 tests at the height of the pandemic

    The scandals represent a sea change in public opinion of Cuomo, who was a political star in the early days of the pandemic.

  • A mesmerizing photo shows powerful magnetic fields swirling around a black hole

    The image illustrates that magnetic fields are strong enough to prevent some matter from getting sucked into the event horizon.

  • After being bottlenecked in the Suez Canal for days, the owner of the cargo ship Ever Given is potentially facing millions of dollars in insurance claims

    Machinery damage and insurance claims from other ships dealing with shipping delays may present the ship's insurer with a large bill.

  • Six North Korean border guards defect to China 'due to hunger and fatigue'

    A unit of six North Korean border soldiers has defected to China, according to reports, in a sign of the increasingly high level of discontent in the reclusive country. While there has been a steady stream of one or two guards fleeing the authoritarian country, a group this large is highly unusual. The soldiers fled across the Yalu River on the border with China earlier this month along with their weapons, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported this week. The unit was part of the 25th Border Guard brigade, which has been deployed to stop other North Koreans from escaping, and reportedly complained of being overworked and underfed since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to RFA. “The six were on nighttime stakeout at the border on the night of the 2nd and did not show up after their scheduled return time in the early morning,” a military source from Hyesan told RFA’s Korean Service. “A search team combed the entire border area looking for them. It was determined that the six had crossed the river with their weapons and escaped to China.” “It’s caused quite the stir."

  • Fox News under fire for wrongly saying Kamala Harris broke precedent by not saluting military

    ‘It would be incorrect for her to salute anyone,’ professor at the US Naval War College says

  • Massive container ship gets stuck in Suez Canal, causing maritime traffic jam

    A huge container ship got stuck in the Suez Canal late Tuesday, causing a massive maritime traffic jam.Why it matters: The Suez accounts for approximately 30% of container shipping volumes, and blocking it for even a short time will cause oil prices to rise — and remind us that the entire global economy relies on really, really big ships.Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.Driving the news: The Ever Given was heading from China to the Netherlands when it ran aground Tuesday after getting caught in poor visibility and high winds from a sandstorm.Because the 1,312-foot ship found itself wedged across the width of the canal, traffic through the all-important maritime chokepoint may be disrupted for days.And almost as importantly, the accident gave birth to many, many memes.What is happing in #SuezCanal today explained.#Egypt pic.twitter.com/T06bFDGQ7q— Zaina Erhaim (@ZainaErhaim) March 24, 2021 The big picture: Even as COVID-19 brought the virtual realm to the forefront, the world economy still chiefly runs on actual, physical stuff — and much of that actual, physical stuff is brought to us in the holds of vast container ships.The pandemic has disrupted the flow of global trade, with consumers in the U.S. ordering so many goods online from manufacturers in China that the world was running low on shipping container boxes.By the numbers: There are currently over 5,000 container ships operating around the world, with more than 20 million 20-foot-equivalent cargo containers.As vast as the oceans are, much of the world's shipping — and especially the oil that keeps the economy running — flows through just seven major maritime chokepoints, including the Suez Canal.While e-commerce grew by 44% in 2020 as we increasingly shopped from home, all those online orders would be useless without container ships to carry them out.The bottom line: Apparently, all it takes to put a spoke in the wheel of globalization is one very large ship in one very wrong place.More from Axios: Sign up to get the latest market trends with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free

  • Don’t pay attention to the hypocritical U.N resolution that Venezuela, Cuba brag is a victory | Opinion

    It’s absolutely ridiculous!

  • Canada border agents had valid interest in Huawei CFO, prosecutor tells extradition judge

    Canadian Border agents had legitimate reasons to question Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou for three hours before her arrest by federal police, a prosecutor said in court on Wednesday, pushing back at defense arguments. Meng's lawyers contend that abuses of process took place in the lead-up to her arrest in December 2018 that should invalidate the U.S. extradition request. Meng, 49, was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on a U.S warrant at Vancouver International Airport.