Two weeks ago, Harvard officers arrested two Ayer residents for selling marijuana in town, in a bizarre case that featured an online ad and the enterprising pursuit of its authors by undercover Harvard and Boxborough police.
Michael Lutz, 45, and Kyndra McFetridge, 29, of Ayer were arrested the morning of August 1 in the Harvard Plaza parking lot on Ayer Road and charged both with the sale of marijuana and possession of the drug “with the intent to sell.” The police seized 4.9 grams of the drug, valued at approximately $50. The pair was arraigned in Clinton District Court the same day and released without bail. A pretrial hearing is scheduled in Clinton for September 2.
Anonymous tip
According to the police report, the case began when Harvard police received an anonymous tip that someone was advertising marijuana for “$50 for an eighth” on Craigslist. The ad asked interested buyers to email their phone numbers and to propose a place to meet. “The ad was discreetly hidden in a longer message,” Sergeant John Coates of the Harvard police told the Press this week. A search of Craigslist on Tuesday revealed that message had been deleted.
Alerted to the message, a Harvard officer answered the ad and corresponded with an individual who identified herself as “she.” The officer at one point proposed a meeting at the General Store, but the suspect declined, according to the official report, saying that the location “was too sketchy, and there were too many townies around.” The suspect then proposed a meeting at 10 a.m. at the Harvard Plaza. The time was later changed to 10:30 a.m., and the officer was asked to look for a “black Honda.”
On the morning of August 1, an undercover officer from the Boxborough police met the two suspects, who arrived on time in a black Honda, driven by Lutz and “with a green canoe on top.” After the officer had purchased the agreed-upon eighth of an ounce of marijuana for $50, two members of the Harvard Police Department and a third from Boxborough stopped the car and ordered the occupants to step out with their hands in the air.
Marijuana, cash, and a pellet gun
Inside, police found $821 in cash and a pellet gun, which the police held “for safe keeping.” The gun was nearly identical [in its appearance] to a high-powered Berretta pistol,” the reporting officer noted, and was within reach of both Lutz and McFeltridge. (For a photograph of the items seized, see the August 1 Facebook post on the Harvard Police Department Facebook page.)
The sale of any amount of marijuana is a misdemeanor that can result in a fine of between $500 and $5,000 and up to two years in prison, or both.
As he exited his car, according to the police, Lutz was heard to say, “I knew I shouldn’t have put that ad on Craigslist.”
