Belchertown sting nabs five planning to rob college pot dealers

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

Belchertown - A police sting led to the arrest of five Boston area men Wednesday who police say planned to break into a local home, handcuff and rob a group of pot-dealing college students at gunpoint, and steal $30,000 worth of drug money.

Benjamin D. Will, 22, of Dorchester, James P. O'Malley, 38, of Boston, Mark O'Brien, 34, of Dorchester and William A. Auclair, 32, of Holbrook, each pleaded innocent Thursday in Eastern Hampshire District Court to charges of conspiracy to commit armed home invasion, carrying a dangerous weapon (stun gun) and possession of a firearm without a firearms identification card. Another man, Kevin B. O'Malley, 37, of South Boston, pleaded innocent to identical charges in court Friday.

According to court documents, in early March, a confidential informant for the state police unit attached to the Northwestern district attorney's office told police that an acquaintance who formerly lived in Hadley had been asking if he knew of any drug-dealing college students who kept large amounts of money in their house.

On March 27, the informant reportedly gave the man, whom police reports identify as Will, a specific cell phone number to call, telling him he knew someone who knew of a house with about $30,000 worth of drug money, and that he would show him where it was, according to court documents.

Several days later, on April 1, Trooper Michael Baker, acting undercover as a potential accomplice, reportedly called Will and spoke with him at length about the planned robbery, telling him about the house and how many people were likely to be inside at the time of the robbery. He reported that Will seemed eager and prepared to go through with the theft.

State police then obtained a search warrant in Eastern Hampshire Court on April 6 to secretly record a conversation with Will. During the recorded conversation, Will told Baker that he and several of his associates would travel to Hadley from Boston and would rob the home armed with two handguns, according to police.

Will also reportedly told Baker not to worry about the crime because he "did things like this for a living," and that he and his associates would "roll in and roll out and the kids wouldn't even know what hit them."

According to court documents, at 11:40 a.m., Baker met with Will and the four other men, who traveled from Boston in a gray minivan, in a parking lot behind the Hampshire Mall.

Baker, who was wearing a wire, reportedly recorded the meeting and a five-minute conversation with Will and the occupants detailing the robbery. State police also had video surveillance of the meeting from a safe distance away, according to court documents.

After the conversation ended, at about 11:45 a.m., a State Police Special Tactical Operations team converged on the vehicle and arrested all five occupants. A subsequent search of the minivan reportedly uncovered an unregistered .357 magnum revolver with matching ammunition, three pellet handguns, a taser, leather gloves and five sets of plastic flex cuffs.

The men reportedly posted $2,000 bail each and are scheduled to appear in court Wednesday for a pretrial hearing.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.