An April 19 drug-related fight in a South Main Street, Barre apartment building led to arrests, the evacuation of the building, and the students not being dismissed from Barre schools on time.
Barre police say that at about 2 PM the Barre City Police Department received a call of a disturbance at an apartment building at 46 South Main Street where it was reported two males were fighting. Upon arrival, officers were informed that one of the males had a rifle and had potentially retreated to the basement of the building while another group of males were reported to be hiding in a stairwell in the upstairs area of the building.
Apartments within the building were evacuated while the building was being secured and searched. As a precaution, nearby Spaulding High School and Barre City Elementary and Middle School were asked to not immediately release students for after school dismissal.
The basement area was searched and found to be empty. Four males were located in an upstairs stairwell. Officers seized 87.16 grams of crack cocaine, 22.5 grams of fentanyl, several thousand dollars in cash, a 9mm pistol and an AR-15 style rifle during the incident.
Officers with the Barre Town Police Department, Berlin Police Department and Vermont State Police assisted.
One of the four males was found to be a 15-year-old missing juvenile out of Springfield, MA who was subsequently released to his parents pending a later court date. Two of the males could not be positively identified but provided names of Lamaar Saint and Manuel Rogers. The fourth male was identified as 23-year-old Joseph Maitin of Middletown, NY.
Maitin, Saint, and Rogers were all lodged at the Northeast Correctional Center in lieu of $200,000 bail pending arraignment on April 22 in Washington County Superior Court. The four males are being charged with fentanyl trafficking, sale of cocaine, dispensing out of a dwelling, and possession of a regulated drug. The investigation is ongoing.