Det. Sgt. Andy McLaughlin says he is accustomed to having to search for suspects and criminals, but this time, he says, they reached out to him.
The police officer in Orleans, Massachusetts, arrested three people after he received a text message asking if he wanted to buy heroin.
Between Sept. 29 and Oct. 2, McLaughlin received several unprompted text messages and phone calls on an Orleans Police Department cell phone, asking him if he wanted to purchase narcotics.
"I responded accordingly, and I was surprised with further text messages that happened between myself and this other person," said McLaughlin.
Following a series of text messages and phone conversations in which McLaughlin was addressed as "Mike," the officer arranged to buy a large amount of heroin, setting up a meet at a Bourne Dunkin Donuts.
Thursday, the person with whom he had been speaking, who turned out to be 34-year-old Santiago Garza of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, showed up with two other men and the heroin.
"Thank God ... I was a police officer, because it could have been a child who they had texted, it could have been someone else," said McLaughlin.
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Garza, 34-year-old David Marin of Milford and 46-year-old Joseph Gately of Medfield were arrested and charged with possession of heroin with intent to distribute and conspiracy to violate drug laws.
"Usually, we have to be proactive. This one was reactive," said McLaughlin.
