Nicholas Vacca,Anthony Vacca two counts of possession of a Class B substance, one count of possession of a Class D substance with intent to distribute
Nicholas Vacca, 23, and Anthony Vacca, 25, were to be arraigned this morning in Dedham District Court on two counts of possession of a Class B substance, one count of possession of a Class D substance with intent to distribute and conspiracy to violate the Controlled Substance Act, said Dedham Police Detective Robert Walsh. Anthony Vacca was also charged with possession of a stun gun, found in his bedroom at the 130 Oak St. residence, Walsh said.
Walsh also said Nicholas Vacca used to coach Pop Warner football in Dedham, though he said he did not have any other details on the man's association with youth football.The brothers shared the house with their parents, Donna Vacca, 49, and Michael Vacca, 50, who will be summoned to court on charges of drug possession resulting from a small amount of cocaine and marijuana found in their bedroom during the investigation, Walsh said. Donna Vacca was charged with operating an uninsured motor vehicle on the day her sons were arrested.After getting a search warrant, officers with the Norfolk County Police Anti-Crime Task Force entered the house disguised as Department of Public Works employees to avoid being spotted by the suspects, who had set up a surveillance camera on the roof of the house with a monitor in the bedroom to keep a lookout for police, said Walsh.
Customers, mostly from Dedham and West Roxbury, were using an aluminum ladder to climb in and out of the bedroom window of one of the brothers, said Walsh.
The arrests were made by a law enforcement group comprised of Norfolk County towns whose police chiefs have signed a memorandum of understanding granting task force officers powers of arrest outside their normal jurisdiction.
About a dozen Oxycontin pills, half an ounce of marijuana "packaged for distribution," and a few Suboxone pills were seized from the house, said Walsh. Suboxone is a prescription medication that treats addiction to opiates, like Oxycontin.Oxycontin costs about $1 a milligram, said Walsh, so one 80-miligram pill can go for $80. "It's very lucrative. What makes Oxycontin and Oxycodone so dangerous is that the people who use them recreationally get hooked on them, and if they don't get the pills, they get sick," said Walsh. "It makes it an insidious drug."
When users can no longer afford Oxycontin, they switch to heroin, said Walsh. "At that point, they're not getting high, they're just holding sickness at bay."
A Suboxone pill, which helps to diminish the symptoms of opiate withdrawal, goes for $10-$15 a pill on the street, said Walsh.
"Everyone knows heroin is a dangerous drug," said Walsh. "But a lot of kids who abuse prescription drugs don't realize they're flirting with danger."
