Four arrested on marijuana distribution charges

A Cranston man is among four people recently arrested on marijuana distribution charges following the execution of a search warrant at a Providence establishment.

According to Rhode Island State Police, members of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force began an investigation following a complaint centered on Elevated, a lounge located at 15 Peck St. in Providence. The establishment, opened by two Johnson & Wales University graduates last years, is billed as a place for licensed medical marijuana users to gather and relax.

The complaint, according to police, indicated individuals associated with a group known as Rhode Island Care and Patients Services (RICAPS) were at the lounge “acting as an unlicensed compassion center and were allegedly providing marijuana to medical marijuana patient cardholders, as well as people who do not have cards.”

The investigation, police said, involved the purchase of marijuana from the four individuals in question at the lounge. Search and arrests warrants were subsequently obtained, and HIDTA personnel and Providence police executed the search warrant on Jan 12.

Douglas Mulcahey, 25, of 42 Cherry St. in Warwick, is charged with five counts of delivery of marijuana to a police officer, two counts of controlled substance conspiracy, and possession with intent to deliver marijuana.

Alexis Byrd, 23, of 42 Cherry St. in Warwick, is charged with two counts of controlled substance conspiracy and possession with intent to deliver marijuana.

Mulcahey and Byrd were allegedly in possession of 21 bottles of liquid THC, 93 bottles of cannabis syrup, 100 marijuana edible candies, and 65 grams of marijuana.

Frank Pellegrino, 24, of 173 Pleasant St. in Cranston, is charged with one count each of delivery of marijuana to a police officer and controlled substance conspiracy.

Kevin Holmes, 24, of 144 Hendricks St. in Providence, faces the same charges as Pellegrino.

Federal jury convicts man of attempted drug trafficking charge

A man arrested in August 2014 after attempting to purchase a large quantity of cocaine from an undercover DEA Task Force agent has been found guilty by a federal jury, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha.

Jose Ignacio Goris, 41, of Providence, was convicted of a count of attempting to possess with the intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine. Prosecutors say he had previously been convicted of federal drug trafficking charges. His sentencing has not yet been scheduled.

A release from Neronha states that according to evidence presented during the trial, Goris and a pair of undercover agents posing as cocaine suppliers “engaged in a series of electronically recorded telephone conversations and meetings” starting in May 2014.

“Goris repeatedly represented to the agents that he had previously engaged in distributing large quantities of cocaine and that he was anxious to return to work trafficking cocaine,” Neronha’s release states.

On Aug. 14, 20154, Goris is said to have met one of the undercover agents in a mall parking lot in Warwick, and was “shown what he believed to be two kilos of cocaine.” Goris is said to have told the agent he would obtain funds to purchase one kilo.

Goris and the agent are said to have met later that day in a Cranston retail store and reached an agreement on the sale of the cocaine. Goris was reportedly directed to a vehicle in the store’s parking lot to retrieve a bag containing the drugs, which was in fact a package “made to appear as if it was a kilo of cocaine.” He was then taken into custody.