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Despite Mutilated Fingerprints, Suspect ID’d as Alleged Drug Trafficker
State, Federal and Local Task Force, With Help of MSP Fingerprint Experts, Link Target of Investigation to Other Crimes; Money, Drug Paraphernalia Seized
June 30, 2010 — A task force compromised of Massachusetts State Police and local and federal officers today arrested an alleged drug dealer who had mutilated his fingerprints – the latest narcotics suspect to do so in an attempt to mask his true identity. It was to no avail, however, as State Police fingerprint experts, with the assistance of the FBI, were able to link him to three criminal warrants under other names.
The alleged dealer gave investigators the name EDUARD ORTIZ, with a stated date of birth that put him at 38 years old. But after narcotics detectives noticed that the tips of his fingerprints had been mutilated, they began digging deeper into his true identity. Members of the State Police Fingerprint Identification Section, with the help of FBI databases, were able to match the suspect’s prints to those taken from LEONEL LOPEZ, also 38, but with a different date of birth. LEONEL LOPEZ is the subject of two outstanding cocaine trafficking warrants. The prints also matched those of a LEONEL LOPEZ-ORTIZ, with the same date of birth, who is the subject of an outstanding warrant for cocaine distribution.
State Police, Boston Police and federal agents continue to investigate the man’s true identity, as well as to investigate his connection to other alleged crimes. Fingerprint evidence indicates that whatever the man’s true identity, all three suspects are the same man.
LOPEZ-ORTIZ (a.k.a.
LEONEL LOPEZ and EDUARD ORTIZ), is being held overnight in State Police
custody at the Milton Barracks and will be arraigned on new identify
fraud charges in Quincy District Court tomorrow. He was arrested at a
home at 43B Fitch Terrace in
When confronted, the suspect initially said he was 35-year-old Luis Virella, and produced a driver’s license bearing that name. Under questioning, however, the suspect then claimed his name was EDUARD ORTIZ. Questioned further, the suspect allegedly stated that he was a Dominican national and that there was more than $100,000 in the bag in the Jeep.
Police charged the suspect (who at that point was still going under the name EDUARD ORTIZ but whom police would soon determine is also LEONEL LOPEZ and LEONEL LOPIZ-ORTIZ) with identity fraud and having a falsely procured license, for his allegedly fraudulent documentation claiming he was Luis Virella. The money in the shopping bag was seized and will be officially counted tomorrow. As well, an additional $900 cash was found on the suspect’s person.
Meanwhile, a State Police K-9 unit was called to the scene to go over the SUV. The dog sniffed out a “hide” – a hidden aftermarket compartment that drug dealers often have built into their cars. No drugs were found in the hide, which was secreted in the Jeep’s rear cargo hold.
Troopers, officers and
agents then searched the
Despite LOPEZ-ORTIZ’s efforts to mutilate the tips of his fingers, State Police experts were able, under close examination that took several hours, to find enough remaining characteristics to enter into a electronic databases and determine he is the same man wanted on cocaine trafficking warrants out of Suffolk Superior Court and Roxbury District Court and a cocaine distribution warrant out of Dorchester District Court. In addition to his state charges, a federal detainer will be lodged against the suspect in relation to his alleged immigration status.
Narcotics investigators
are more frequently encountering drug dealers who mutilate their prints
in a variety of ways in efforts to avoid detection, including both
chemical and mechanical altering of skin ridges. State Police have been
successful in determining true identities of other suspects with
mutilated fingerprints, and last week a suspected drug dealer who had
unsuccessfully tried to alter his fingertips was arraigned in West
Roxbury District Court after a
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