New Bedford police misconduct in drug case

Last month, Superior Court judge Renee P. Dupuis, dismissed a vast majority of the evidence in the case, ruling that Lucas, a retired New Bedford gang unit detective, had carried on and concealed the romantic relationship with the confidential informant. The information the woman supposedly offered led directly to the search warrants filed against Martinez.

"[Lucas's] disregard for police department policy regarding informants lacked the very integrity required for the search warrant process to maintain legitimacy," Dupuis wrote in her May 21 decision.

As part of the ruling, Dupuis ordered the suppression of all evidence seized during the execution of three search warrants in the case, including the alleged recovery of more than 80 grams of cocaine and fentanyl. This left prosecutors facing the prospect of going to trial with almost no evidence.

The office of Bristol District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III did not respond to a request for comment.

Martinez's attorney, Brian S. Fahy, praised the case's outcome and expressed relief on behalf of his client, who spent roughly three years in jail.

"I'm also happy for the bigger picture here," Fahy added. "Because something that was very wrong was exposed."

In a brief email, a spokeswoman for the New Bedford Police Department said that Lucas left the department in 2021, but refused to address the dismissal of the Martinez case or Dupuis's decision.

The development comes a year after the Globe revealed the problematic relationship between Lucas and Carly Medeiros, whom Lucas had portrayed as a reliable confidential informant in the case against Martinez.

In a series of interviews with the Globe, as well as a written affidavit, Medeiros said she had planted drugs on Martinez in 2019 at the behest of New Bedford police, including a detective with whom she was romantically involved.

In Medeiros's telling, she was dating Martinez, the defendant in this case, in 2019 but said the relationship soured when Martinez became abusive. Lucas, Medeiros said, offered to help get Martinez out of her life.

At Lucas's direction, Medeiros said, she arranged to meet Martinez outside her aunt's apartment building. In a meeting with New Bedford detectives beforehand, she said she was provided a small amount of cocaine and cash from the officers. When Martinez arrived, she said, she entered his vehicle and the two became intimate. It was then, she alleged, that she discreetly dropped the drugs between the seats of the vehicle and transferred several $20 bills into the pocket of Martinez's sweatpants.

Soon after, court records show, New Bedford detective Kevin Barbosa — citing information from a "reliable confidential informant" later determined to be Medeiros — obtained warrants to search Martinez's home, the home of his then-girlfriend, and a Jeep Commander registered in his name. Detectives said they recovered cocaine and fentanyl, as well as suboxone strips and Diazepam — though no drugs were reported seized from the vehicle.

Martinez was indicted June 27, 2019, on charges of drug trafficking and possession with intent to distribute.

Last year, Martinez sought and was granted a hearing to determine whether police knowingly or recklessly included false information in their search warrant application.

During the three-day hearing early this year, Medeiros testified that she'd planted both drugs and money on Martinez at the direction of police.

New Bedford narcotics detective Kevin Barbosa, the case's lead investigator, denied under oath that Medeiros was told to plant drugs on Martinez — or that he was aware Lucas and Medeiros were romantically involved. Dupuis found his statements credible, according to her ruling.

Lucas did not testify.

In her ruling, Dupuis said she did not find Medieros's claims that she'd planted drugs on Martinez credible. She did, however, find it "more likely than not" that Medeiros was "in a sexual relationship with [Martinez] at the time, she was angry with him and no longer wished to be in the relationship, and that she was trying to get the defendant arrested to easily extract herself from the situation."

And Lucas, she found, was a willing participant in Medeiros's effort to remove Martinez from her life.

"It was gross misconduct for Mr. Lucas to have a sexual relationship with his informant," Dupuis wrote.

Additionally, Dupuis ordered Bristol County prosecutors to turn over files for all cases in which Medeiros served as a confidential informant, arguing the documents could include exculpatory evidence that "may tend to negate the guilt of criminal defendants."

That material is under seal, and it's unclear how many cases could ultimately be affected. Defense attorneys in at least one other high-profile drug-trafficking case have already cited the improper relationship between Medeiros and Lucas in motions for dismissal.