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MEDFORD – At approximately 10:22 p.m. on January 3, 2023, Officer Brian Enos of the Medford Police Department was working his assigned shift when he observed a 2014 black Mercedez-Benz with Massachusetts plates parked in front of Yoki Japanese Restaurant and Bar, located at 62 Station Landing.
On a hunch, Officer Enos ran the vehicle’s registration through the criminal justice information system and discovered that the registered owner of the vehicle, Timothy Grasso, had a warrant out for his arrest.
Grasso is a 40-year-old resident of Tremont Street in Amesbury. According to the Medford Police Department’s Application for Criminal Complaint, Grasso is also an unemployed divorcee.
“I turned around, placing my cruiser behind the motor vehicle and activated my overhead emergency lights,” wrote Officer Enos in his Narrative for the incident. “I contacted Medford Control providing them with my location and the registration. I walked to the driver’s side door and observed Mr. Grasso sitting in the driver’s seat. I asked him for his license, which he gave to me. There was a passenger in the front seat, later identified as Robert Kolczewski.”
Court records say Kolczewski is a divorced, 40-year-old resident of Aldana Road in Halifax. According to the Medford Police Department’s Application for Criminal Complaint, Kolczewski is a laid off electrician.
Once Medford Control confirmed the warrant for Grasso, Officer Enos ordered him out of the vehicle and placed him under arrest. Officer Enos added that when Grasso exited the vehicle, he left his wallet and a small black zippered bag on his car seat.
Officer Peter Carbone arrived on scene to assist. He stayed with Kolczewski while Officer Enos searched Grasso.
“Mr. Grasso was wearing a shoulder bag,” wrote Officer Enos in his Narrative. “During my search of the bag I located two glass pipes with white residue, plastic bags, a digital scale, and banded money. Through my training and experience I know people involved in the sale of narcotics use plastic bags for packaging and scales to weigh the narcotics. The two glass pipes I recognized from my training and experience to be commonly used to smoke methamphetamine. I placed Mr. Grasso into my cruiser and returned to the motor vehicle.”
Officer Enos then ordered Kolczewski to exit the vehicle and he complied. Like Grasso, Kolczewski was also wearing a shoulder bag.
According to Officer Enos, he asked Kolczewski if he had anything on him or in the bag. Kolczewski responded saying there was a baton in his bag.
“I removed the bag from Mr. Kolczewski and searched him,” wrote Officer Enos in his Narrative. “I did not locate anything. I ordered Mr. Kolczewski to stand on the sidewalk and turned to the motor vehicle. As soon as I did, I saw a small knotted plastic bag containing a crystal-like substance of a whitish color next to the passenger seat, where Mr. Kolczewski was sitting. From my training I believe the plastic bag to contain methamphetamine [later found to be 28.69 grams total]. I told Mr. Kolczewski that he was under arrest and placed him into handcuffs that I checked for tightness and double locked. Officer P. Carbone placed him in his cruiser.”
Officer Enos requested that Sergeant Collin Tracy come to the scene to assist with searching the vehicle. Sgt. Tracy arrived with Officer Rob Passacantilli shortly thereafter.
“Before searching the motor vehicle, Officer R. Passacantilli and I saw that the radio mount had been tampered with and was loose,” wrote Officer Enos in his Narrative. “When I opened Mr. Grasso’s wallet, I saw a small knotted plastic bag containing white powder. Through my training and experience, I believed it to be cocaine.”
In addition to the cocaine, Officer Enos said he found “a large amount of currency” banded in different amounts in Grasso’s wallet.
Inside the small black zippered bag Grasso left on his seat, Officer Enos found three plastic baggies containing methamphetamine. In total, police said that Grasso had 44.74 grams of methamphetamine in his possession at the time of his arrest. Nothing else was located inside the vehicle by police.
An additional officer arrived on scene to transport Grasso and Kolczewski back to the station for booking.
When Officer Enos returned to the station, he counted the money inside Grasso’s wallet and bag. Inside Grasso’s wallet were two bundles of money, one worth $824 and the other $960 ($1,784 total). In Grasso’s black zippered-bag was an additional $2,000 as well as another bag of methamphetamine. Inside Kolczewski’s bag, Officer Enos found a collapsible baton and a capped needle.
In addition to the outstanding warrant, Grasso was charged with Trafficking in Methamphetamine 36 Grams or More Less than 100 Grams, Possession of a Class B Drug, and Conspiracy to Violate Drug Law.
Kolczewski was charged with Trafficking in Methamphetamine and Conspiracy to Violate Drug Law.
Both Grasso and Kolczewski’s bail was set at $4,500.
Grasso was arraigned in Somerville District Court on January 4 after which he was released on his own personal recognizance with the potential of bail revocation under the condition that he refrain from illegal drugs and submit to random drug screens.
Grasso violated the terms of his pretrial-release on January 17 and 18, when he failed two drug tests on those days. He tested positive for amphetamine, benzodiazepine, fentanyl and methamphetamine.
After failing the two drug tests, no warrant was issued for Grasso’s arrest. Instead, probation was told to notify Grasso that he must appear for drug testing again on January 19.
At 3:00 p.m., on January 19, Grasso appears at the probation department for his drug test, takes the test, but leaves before the result came back – it was negative. The case was then called before the court. Probation advised the court that Grasso’s results were negative on his third drug screen, but he disappeared prematurely. The court instructed probation to appear in court again on January 20, where a non-bailable warrant was issued for Grasso’s arrest.
Kolczewski was arraigned in Somerville District Court on January 4 after which he was released on his own personal recognizance under the condition that he refrain from the use of illegal drugs and submit to random drug screens.
Kolczewski violated his pretrial condition for release on January 5, when he did not show up for a scheduled drug screen. A non-bailable warrant was then issued for his arrest.
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Disclaimer 2: If you are wondering why the incident in this story was from early January, that is because I had to file FOIA request(s) to get the court documents for the incident. FOIAs are time consuming.
