Police Arrest Bridgewater, Massachusetts Man A Second Time For Selling Fake Pills Made with Fentanyl

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The Taunton Daily Gazette reported that detectives from the local WEB Task Force arrested a Bridgewater, Massachusetts resident for allegedly selling counterfeit fentanyl pills in the surrounding communities. A tip came into law enforcement in December that led to the eventual arrest and charges against 44-year-old John Bagley. Police executed search warrants on Bagley’s home, business, and vehicle, seizing multiple items associated with drug distribution such as scales, packaging, multiple phones, and 17 pills police suspect to be fake.

Police transported Bagley to the Bridgewater police station to face charges of illegal possession with intent to distribute a Class A substance [fentanyl] and illegal possession of a Class B substance. Bagley posted $1,000 bail and pleaded not guilty at his arraignment. At the same time, a judge revoked Bagley’s bail after the Plymouth County district attorney’s office filed a motion asking for as much. He is being held without bail and is next due in court on January 31, 2019.

This arrest was not Bagley’s first time being arrested by the WEB Task Force. In March 2018, court documents showed the same detectives executed a warrant on Bagley’s home. At that time, they seized multiple blue pills which tested positive for fentanyl or heroin, and Bagley told police he purchased about 200 Percocet pills every week. One hundred of those pills Bagley would sell to friends.

According to the Bridgewater Police Department, the WEB Major Crimes and Drug Task Force is an investigative unit comprised of detectives from the East Bridgewater, Bridgewater, West Bridgewater, Whitman, and Bridgewater State University police departments. The unit takes a proactive approach as it investigates drug offenses and other major felony crimes.

To read about other counterfeit medicine incidents in Massachusetts, please read PSM’s 2018 Massachusetts Infosheet.