Police: Ellington man sold drugs to undercover officers

Matthew Knox, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
·2 min read

Mar. 23—An Ellington man faces drug charges after police say he sold cocaine to undercover officers in Ellington and Vernon.

Joseph Murphy, 21, of Somers Road, was charged March 16 with four counts of possession of a controlled substance, and two counts each of sale of a narcotic substance and possession of narcotics with the intent to sell. He is being held in lieu of $400,000 bond and is to appear in Vernon Superior Court on April 14.

In January, local and state police began investigating reports that a man living on Somers Road in Ellington was selling cocaine in the Rockville section of Vernon.

As part of the investigation, police searched the trash at Murphy's residence several times and recovered evidence of drug packaging. Police also installed a surveillance camera on a nearby utility pole. The video captured known drug users appearing to purchase drugs at the address.

One of the purchases occurred in the middle of February. Murphy agreed to meet an undercover officer at the 7-Eleven convenience store on Union Street in Rockville. As the undercover officer waited there, other officers watched and followed while Murphy left his residence and drove to the meeting spot.

Murphy sold the undercover officer 0.81 grams of cocaine in exchange for $60 on the occasion.

In March, police conducted two separate purchases from Murphy, one at the 7-Eleven in Rockville again. That time, the undercover officer purchased $100 worth of cocaine from Murphy. The second time, Murphy agreed to meet outside his address, where he sold the officer $60 worth of cocaine.

After two of the transactions, the undercover officer was able to identify Murphy in a photo array as the person they had interacted with.

On March 16, police organized another undercover purchase operation with Murphy. They contacted Murphy by phone and planned to meet in Ellington, where Murphy sold the undercover officer 1.9 grams of cocaine and .9 grams of crack cocaine.

After the cocaine was tested, a search warrant was executed at Murphy's residence and he was taken into custody.

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