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The bust was made in a Worcester parking lot, but started on the Mass Pike (I-90) in Charlton near the State Police barracks, Sunday, Nov. 9, around 3 p.m.
The three men arrested are from New York and ages 18-21. They have been charged with drug, weapons, and other crimes.
The men from New York were first spotted by Massachusetts Trooper James Melberg while he was patrolling the highway near the Route 84 interchange. While stationary, Melberg ran the license plate of a passing Mercedes with New Jersey plates and discovered the vehicle had been reported stolen on Monday, Nov. 2, from New York, police said.
Melberg caught up to the Mercedes in his cruiser and initiated a traffic stop. At first, the vehicle complied, police said, and stopped on Route 90. Seconds later the vehicle allegedly drove off at a high rate of speed down the highway, police said.
Melberg and another trooper, Matthew Gray, chased after the men, but stopped due to the risk to public safety, police said. Other state police cruisers began to canvas the area searching for the Mercedes.
Trooper Jeffrey Nye located the Mercedes in the parking lot of a Worcester shopping center and officers were able to make contact with the building’s security team, police said, who shared video footage of the men entering the parking lot and exiting the vehicle.
Troopers located the three men and arrested them then searched the Mercedes. In the vehicle police allegedly found a loaded Glock 42 pistol and “two large packages of pressed white powdery substance stamped with a crown,” police said. The white powder is suspected to be 2 kilos worth of cocaine, police said.
Manuel Pimentel, 18, New York, New York, and Edison Baez, 20, Port Jefferson, New York were arrested and each charged with receiving stolen property over $1,200, carrying a loaded firearm, possession of a firearm, possession of ammunition with FID card, possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, conspiracy to violate drug laws, trafficking in cocaine, and receiving a stolen motor vehicle, police said.
Brian Hernandez, 21, of New York, New York, was also arrested and received the same charges as Pimental and Baez except for one. Hernandez was not charged with conspiracy to violate drug laws, police said.
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