Rhode Island Cocaine Trafficking Fugitive: Warrant Vacated and Case Dismissed.

In 1981, police charged a former Rhode Island man with four felony offenses in RI Superior Court: two counts of Possession with Intent to Deliver Marijuana; one count of Cocaine Possession; and one count of Possession with Intent to Deliver Cocaine. These charges arose from the discovery and seizure of 300 pounds of marijuana and a small quantity of cocaine by police in a hotel room occupied by the man and a group of others.

Police were tipped off to the man and his two others, his Co-Defendants, by a hotel clerk who overheard a domestic verbal altercation between a female and a male occupying the hotel room. In the course of their discussion, the clerk overheard the two referring to narcotics. He then notified the authorities. Police responded to the hotel and assumed a surveillance position to visually monitor the occupants’ activities and to listen to both their conversations and activities through the wall of an adjacent hotel room. After gathering enough information for probable cause to believe the hotel guests were engaged in unlawful behavior, police apprehended the occupants as they were leaving the hotel in a vehicle. They were arrested and the vehicle was searched resulting in discovery of a large quantity of marijuana and cocaine. The suspects were then brought to court, charged with multiple felony drug charges, arraigned and released on bail.

The leader of the group defaulted after his arrest by not appearing in court for any future appearances. Fearful of prosecution and the prospects of going to jail, he escaped from Rhode Island and the United States by settling down in Mexico. The man felt this was his best possible course of action to remain free and alive. He knew that if he stuck around to undergo prosecution, he faced significant jail time. At the same time, the illegal narcotics had been seized. The man had acquired them on credit from a Columbian source. He and his family faced death or serious bodily harm if he did not pay his debt for the drugs even if they had been seized by authorities. Thus, the man fled to Mexico in order to pay this debt, quietly exit the drug trafficking business and start a new life. He did just that. He got married, had children and obtained employment with a Mexico-based international textiles manufacturer. The man rose through the ranks of this company to become a corporate officer.

More than 30 years after fleeing Rhode Island, the man needed to return to the United States to visit with his terminally ill mother who resided in Florida. The man, a U.S. Citizen, feared that if he tried to re-enter the United States on his own, he would be detained on the Rhode Island arrest warrant and extradited back to Rhode Island to await prosecution. He similarly felt that the same would happen if he sought to apply for a U.S. passport in order to re-enter the country. Fearful of being taken into custody, but determined to visit with his ailing mother, the man discovered and hired Attorney John L. Calcagni III. Because of John’s experience with helping clients vacate arrest warrants in absentia or in their absence, the man hired John to petition the Rhode Island Court to vacate the warrant so he could return to the United States to see his mother. Attorney Calcagni accomplished this goal and went one step further. Attorney Calcagni acquired the man’s case file from the Court and then made contact with the prosecutor’s office. He then filed a motion to dismiss the matter. Before the motion was heard, Attorney Calcagni successfully convinced prosecutors based on the age of this case and the man’s extenuating and mitigating circumstances, to allow the warrant to be vacated in his absence and for the case and its felony drug charges to be dismissed upon payment of $1000 in costs. The case was disposed of accordingly by the Court with the prosecution’s consent. Attorney Calcagni made the $1000 payment on the man’s behalf and the Court granted his motion to dismiss. Two weeks later, Attorney Calcagni reappeared before the Court with another motion to have this case and its charges sealed from the man’s record. This motion was also granted. Congratulations to this man who since has obtained his U.S. passport and traveled back to the United States from Mexico to be with his mother.