Ashburnham traffic stop leads to foot chase of wanted woman; driver charged with trafficking cocaine, possessing fentanyl

ASHBURNHAM — On Friday, June 6, 2025, Detective Quinn Smith of the Ashburnham Police Department was conducting surveillance at 54 Water Street—an apartment building—when he observed a woman he recognized as Kelly-Sandra Bove walk through the front yard and enter a gray Buick LaCrosse with Georgia plates.

(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narrative of Detective Quinn Smith and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)

According to police, Kelly-Sandra Bove, 36, is a resident of West Street in Ashby, MA.

“This vehicle is known to me from past interactions, and multiple controlled drug buys with members of the North Worcester County Drug Task Force,” Detective Smith said. “These controlled buys were executed February-May 2025 where I observed Helen Blake operating the above listed vehicle, conducting a hand-to-hand drug transaction with a confidential informant. 54 Water Street is a known drug house to me and my agency, three search warrants for narcotics have been executed [there], where I was the affiant of the search warrant. After the execution of these search warrants, drugs and drug paraphernalia were located. Please note that Blake was assisting in drug sales with the target of these search warrants.”

Detective Smith identified Helen Blake as the driver of the Buick, with the front-seat passenger later confirmed to be Kori Jocham.

“I am aware that Kelley-Sandra Bove has two outstanding warrants,” Detective Smith said. “Please note that Kelley-Sandra Bove is known to me from past charges, and was present at the above listed address during the execution of my last search warrant.”

“At this time, I traveled to Chapel Street and parked on the side of the road where I was still able to observe the driveway of 54 Water Street to conduct further surveillance,” Detective Smith said. “I observed the…vehicle pull out of the driveway and start traveling inbound on Water Street. I was able to identify Blake as the operator. Blake then turned right onto Chapel Street where my cruiser was parked, passing my location. I observed Blake to make eye contact with me when she drove past.”

According to police, Helen Blake, 48, resides at 54 Water Street, Apt. [# redacted], Ashburnham, MA.

Detective Smith said he turned his cruiser around and got behind the vehicle Blake was driving.

“I was going to conduct a motor vehicle stop, in an attempt to make contact with Kelley-Sandra Bove, and take her into custody on her outstanding warrants,” Detective Smith explained.

After turning his cruiser around, Detective Smith said the vehicle picked up speed and took a quick left turn onto Lawrence Street.

“I turned onto Lawrence Street and observed Blake had pulled into the driveway of 17 Lawrence Street,” Detective Smith said. “I know the owner of 17 Lawrence Street and know that Blake has no connection, does not know the owners, and has no business there.”

Detective Smith said he believed Bove was attempting to evade the motor vehicle stop by pulling into 17 Lawrence Street.

“Throughout my career I have observed many operators pull into driveways and parking lots in an attempt to evade police and know this to be a common practice,” Detective Smith explained. “Please note that this is a dirt driveway that is used as access to the back of 17 Lawrence Street.”

Detective Smith parked his cruiser near 17 Lawrence Street, exited, and approached the driver side of the vehicle.

“I observed Blake in the driver seat and ordered her to put down her window. Blake put down her window, and I advised her that she was trespassing and to provide her ID,” Detective Smith said. “I asked Blake why she was in this driveway and she stated that she just pulled in for a minute. I observed Bove in the back seat with a blanket over her head attempting to conceal her identity. I was concerned due to the fact that I could not see Bove’s hands and I did not know what she was concealing under the blanket. I observed Bove’s hands to be moving under the blanket as if she was poking the blanket to keep it above her head.”

Detective Smith said he told Bove to take the blanket off her head multiple times.

“I was beginning to grow concerned as Bove’s movements and erratic behavior in the back seat were taking my attention off of the occupants in the front seat of the vehicle, and that she could have also been concealing a weapon,” Detective Smith said.

Detective Smith said that – at that time- he couldn’t see Bove’s hands, body, or the contents of the right side of the back seat of the vehicle.

“It should be noted that at his time I was the only officer on the scene, and there were three occupants in the vehicle,” Detective Smith said. “Bove asked if she could talk, at which time I ordered her out of the vehicle based on her WMS [Warrant Management System] status and her erratic behavior.”

Detective Smith stated that Bove initially refused to exit the vehicle but eventually complied, getting out and walking toward the rear of the car.

“I advised Bove that she was under arrest,” Detective Smith said. “I told Bove that if she runs from me there would be more charges. Bove told me to charge her and started to run from the vehicle, through the yard of 17 Lawrence Street and into the parking lot of the library. I did not pursue Bove, I called for assistance and advised responding officers of Bove’s description and direction of travel.”

Detective Smith said he then walked back to the vehicle to speak with Blake and Jocham.

“I advised Blake to give me her keys to ensure that she would not attempt to flee,” Detective Smith said. “Blake refused to give me her keys. I advised Blake that she was trespassing on another person’s property, and Bove just fled from police, which I have concerns there are weapons and or drugs, she is trying to conceal.”

Detective Smith said that he was concerned for his safety during this encounter because there were two occupants of the vehicle and he was still the only officer on scene.

“I then gave Blake exit orders and attempted to open the driver side door,” Detective Smith said, adding that, as he attempted to open the door, Blake tried to pull it shut, but he was able to block the door with his arm and pull it back open.

“I yelled for Blake to not shut the door on me again,” Detective Smith said. “Blake stated that she does not have any reason to step out of the vehicle, [and] I advised her of why I ordered her out of the vehicle for a second time.”

Detective Smith said Blake was slow to exit the vehicle and that he couldn’t see her left hand, which was hidden behind her.

“Blake’s left hand was now wedged between the side of the driver’s seat B pillar/floor board area of the car,” Detective Smith said. “My concern grew as Blake appeared to be attempting to hide or manipulate items from the left side of her body, and/or the inside of the car near her left pocket. The position that Blake was in did not appear to be comfortable and or natural position or serve any purpose to assist her in getting out of the car. I advised Blake that she was making me nervous because I did not know if she was attempting to conceal a weapon. Additionally, Blake was moving her feet around kicking a bag at her feet as if she was attempting to push the bag underneath the seat.”

Detective Smith noted that based on his training and experience, Blake’s movements were consistent with an attempt to conceal an item before exiting the vehicle.

“Further, it was apparent that Blake was stalling in an effort to conceal the contents of her pockets, and or contents of the vehicle,” Detective Smith said. “Blake then stated that she was having trouble breathing, at which time I called for an ambulance to my location to provide medical care. Please note that minutes prior, I observed Blake performing yard work in front of 54 Water Street with no obvious medical distress.”

Detective Smith said Blake eventually complied with his exit orders and, after several attempts, got out of the car and walked to the rear of the vehicle.

“Sergeant [Matt] Ziomek arrived on scene at this time and ordered Blake to the push bar of my cruiser,” Detective Smith said. “During this interaction I observed a wanted female fleeing from Blake’s vehicle. Additionally, I noted that Blake was manipulating herself in her vehicle in a way that suggested she was attempting to conceal weapons, and or contraband. I also recognized a number of diversionary tactics used to both draw my attention away from Blake and delay further investigation. Based on this behavior, and subsequent officer safety concerns, I intended to perform a pat frisk of both Blake, and her area of immediate control in the vehicle. Sgt. Ziomek advised me that Blake had verbalized that she would only be searched by a female officer, at which time, dispatch contacted Westminster police, who had a female officer on duty. While officers were well within their rights to address the above listed safety concerns, a female officer was contacted to further de-escalate as Blake appeared upset and did report having medical issues.”

Detective Smith said he then went and spoke with Jocham, who provided him with her identification. While speaking with her, he walked around to the driver’s side of the vehicle, pointed to a bag on the floorboards of the driver’s side, and asked if it belonged to Blake. Jocham replied, “Yes.”

“Please note during the encounters with Jocham, she identified Blake’s bag as being her bag multiple times showing ownership,” Detective Smith said. “While pat frisking the bag for weapons I felt something hard which could be a weapon. I opened the bag and located a container which could be big enough to hold a weapon.”

Detective Smith said he opened the contained and saw tied-off plastic baggies containing a white, chunky powdery substance, which, based on his training and experience, is consistent with crack cocaine.

“After observing the narcotics, I closed the container to be searched further once Blake was searched by a female officer,” Detective Smith said. “Please note that at this time I was the only officer on scene due to the fact that Sgt. Ziomek had left my location to go assist Lieutenant [John] Boucher in the apprehension of Bove. Sgt. Ziomek arrived on scene a short time later and stated that he observed what looked to be a crack pipe in plain view in Blake’s left shorts pocket. The location of the crack pipe is consistent with movements I observed with Blake’s attempts to conceal the contents of her left pocket.”

Detective Smith said that – at this time – Westminster Police Officer Miranda Hamel arrived on scene to pat frisk and search Blake.

Officer Hamel located the following items during her search of Blake:

• A crack pipe with visible residue
• White, chunky, rock-like substance in a silicone container, consistent with crack cocaine
• Brown powder in a rubber container, consistent with fentanyl
• Cash totaling $295, consisting of one fifty-dollar bill, 10 twenty-dollar bills, two ten-dollar bills, two five-dollar bills, and five one-dollar bills

In addition, Detective Smith said that during a further search of the container found in Blake’s bag—the one holding tied-off baggies with the white, chunky, rock-like substance believed to be crack cocaine—police also located a brown powdery substance consistent with fentanyl and two knives.

The complete list of items and their corresponding weights/totals are as follows:

1. Cocaine -10.0g
2. Crack cocaine – 9.7g
3. Crack cocaine – 2.2g  
4. Cocaine – 3.9g
5. Fentanyl – 2.2g
6. Crack cocaine – 2.0g
7. Fentanyl – 2.8g  
8. Cash: 1 × $50, 10 × $20, 2 × $10, 2 × $5, 5 × $1 — Total: $2
9. 95Gabapentin – two pills
10. Clonazepam – 22 pills
11. Two knives
12. Crack pipe
13. Scale with drug residue on it
14. Chore boy Brillo/medal cleaning
15. Cell phone
16. Container/cooking spoon
17. Baggies
18. Black satchel containing sunglasses, ear buds, flashlight

“Please note that all drugs were securely stored in APD [Ashburnham Police Department] property, to be sent to lab for testing at a later date,” Detective Smith. “A motor vehicle inventory was conducted of the above listed vehicle before being towed by Tj’s Towing.”

Helen Blake was charged with the following:

1. Cocaine, Trafficking in 18 grams to 36 grams
2. Possess Class A Drug
3. Possess Class C Drug
4. Possess Class E Drug

Blake’s arraignment was scheduled for July 28, 2025 in Winchendon District Court.

Please note: The Freedom of Information request obtained by News Link Live for the incident covered in this article did not include information on whether the other individuals involved were arrested.

Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story took place in June, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to obtain the court documents. FOIAs are time-consuming.

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