ASHBURNHAM — On Saturday, June 1, 2024, at approximately 8:00 p.m., Officer Sarrah Bellofatto of the Ashburnham Police Department was parked on Fitchburg Road observing traffic with stationary radar when she observed a gray Toyota RAV4 with Rhode Island plates exceeding the posted speed limit of 40 mph.
“I activated the radar unit and confirmed the vehicle’s speed to be 60 mph,” Officer Bellofatto said. “There were no other vehicles in the radar’s path at the time of the reading. I activated my blue lights, at this, the motor vehicle immediately pulled over.”
(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Bellofatto and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)
Officer Bellofatto approached the driver’s side of the vehicle and requested the license and registration from the driver.
“The operator handed me the registration of the motor vehicle, and continued fumbling around and checking multiple places for his license,” Officer Bellofatto said. “After a short time, he stated that he had a picture of his license on his phone, which I immediately found odd. The operator handed me his phone with a picture of a PA [Pennsylvania] license belonging to a John Lebron. After looking at the picture, I noticed there were several facial features that did not seem to match.”
After examining the license photo, Officer Bellofatto told the driver that the picture didn’t resemble him at all.
“While holding the operator’s phone in my hand, I asked for his date of birth,” Officer Bellofatto said. “The operator mumbled a date of birth for me several times, which I could not understand. After several times, he came up with 3/6/96, which did not match the date of birth on the PA license. The operator reported he does not have a license and his name is Edwin Gomez 3/6/95 [birthdate].”
At this time, Officer Bellofatto asked the man to turn off the vehicle. She then instructed him to contact someone to pick up his truck, as he did not have a license and could no longer operate the vehicle.
“I explained that if he could get someone to this location in a reasonable amount of time, I would not tow the vehicle,” Officer Bellofatto said. “While the operator was contacting someone to come get the vehicle, I checked in IMC [Information Management Corporation database] for the name and DOB [date of birth] and could not find anyone matching that information.”
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Information Management Corporation (IMC) database “enables small and medium-sized police agencies in a regional network to access specified databases of other agencies in the network.”
According to Officer Bellofatto, a short time later, Officer Thomas Chabot – who responded as backup – spoke with the driver, who “finally” identified himself as 28-year-old Joshua Navarro and reported that he had a warrant.
“The warrant was confirmed through IMC,” Officer Bellofatto said.
Officer Bellofatto’s report did not specify what the warrant was for. However, under the charges listed, it indicates that Navarro is suspected of using “drugs/narcotics.”
Navarro was arrested for operating after suspension and the warrant. Officer Chabot transported Navarro to the Ashburnham Police Department where he was booked without incident.
“I continued to wait a short time for someone to come take possession of the motor vehicle, no one arrived,” Officer Bellofatto said. “The vehicle was towed to TJs [T.J. & Sons Towing]. A MV [motor vehicle] inventory was completed.”
According to The Gardner News, in 2015, Joshua Navarro, 19, of 1816 E. Lippincott Street, Philadelphia, PA, was implicated in a drug ring that funneled thousands of dollars worth of drugs into Gardner. The bust followed a joint investigation by the Gardner Police Drug Unit and the Massachusetts State Police Gang Unit, which had been monitoring the influx of crack and heroin into the area.
Navarro, along with two accomplices, was arrested on August 19, 2015, after police stopped their speeding vehicle on Route 2 in Gardner. During the stop, an officer noticed a plastic baggie protruding from Navarro’s pocket and questioned him about it.
“Listen, you caught me,” Navarro allegedly said. “I’m not going to try to tuck them.”
The baggie in Navarro’s pocket contained nearly 11 grams of heroin, valued at approximately $1,200, and about 24 grams of crack, worth around $2,500.
All three men were charged with trafficking cocaine, possession of heroin with intent to distribute, and conspiracy to violate drug laws. Following his arrest in August 2015, Navarro’s bail was set at $25,000 cash.
According to the Telegram & Gazette, in December 2016, Navarro’s cocaine trafficking and heroin possession/distribution charges from August of the prior year were nol prossed in Worcester Superior Court. A nol pros, or nolle prosequi [a Latin phrase meaning “to be unwilling to prosecute”], is a court filing that reflects a prosecutor’s decision not to proceed with a criminal case after charges have been brought.
Following his June 1, 2024, arrest in Ashburnham, Navarro’s bail was set at $25,540.00.
He was arraigned in Winchendon District Court.
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story was from earlier this month, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to get the court documents for the incident. FOIAs are time consuming.
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