Dookhanated drug defendant back behind bars on a new drug charge

A man sprung from prison thanks to disgraced chemist Annie Dookhan was charged with heroin possession after he tried to evade a routine traffic stop in Hyde Park, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Pedro Hernandez, 46, of Lawrence, had a five-year heroin sentence stayed last year because Dookhan processed some of the drug evidence against him. According to the DA's office, police found him with "four tightly bundled sticks of heroin weighing approximately 41 grams" following an attempted traffic stop on West Street near Summer Street:

The driver, later identified as Hernandez, slowed but did not stop and instead continued driving at a slow rate of speed as he turned onto Austin Street, prosecutors said. The vehicle eventually stopped and officers observed Hernandez pull a black back pack from the backseat and reach inside the bag, prosecutors said. Officers approached the vehicle and ordered both Hernandez and his passenger, Burgos, to place their hands on the dashboard.

The two acted nervously but soon complied with the order, however, prosecutors said that Hernandez then reached over Burgos, opened the passenger side door, and pushed Burgos out of the vehicle. Police pursued and apprehended Burgos after a brief struggle during which he dropped an object from his hand, prosecutors said. The item turned out to be four tightly bundled sticks of heroin weighing approximately 41 grams, prosecutors said.

West Roxbury District Court Judge Catherine Byrne set Hernandez’s bail at $10,000. However, prosecutors persuaded a Suffolk Superior Court judge to revoke the stay of his earlier sentence, the DA's office says.

Innocent, etc.