CLINTON — On Sunday, October 12, 2025, at approximately 12:45 a.m., Detective Gerald Guerra of the Clinton Police Department was on patrol driving southbound on West Boylston Street when, as he drove by the town’s water filtration plant (i.e., the Harold P. Naughton Sr. Water Filtration Facility), he observed a grey Nissan Rogue with Massachusetts plates backing up in the parking lot.
(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narrative of Detective Gerald Guerra and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)
“Given the time of night, the building being closed, I turned around to approach the vehicle,” Det. Guerra said. “I noticed the vehicle exiting the parking lot through the open gate, which is normally locked and closed by this time of night, in a quick manner and turn right (southbound) onto West Boylston Street. I immediately turned on my emergency blue lights to get the operator’s attention to no avail. The vehicle drove past me.”
Detective Guerra said that he turned around and caught up to the vehicle in another attempt to conduct a traffic stop.
“The Nissan continued driving and eventually pulled over on the right side of the road in front of The Clinton High School located at 200 West Boylston Street,” Det. Guerra said. “I radioed my location to dispatch and exited my cruiser. I approached the right passenger side of the vehicle, where I was met by the operator and sole occupant, later identified as [23-year-old] Franco Santana.”
Detective Guerra said he informed Santana for the reason for the stop and inquired about his presence at the town’s water filtration plant.
“Franco told me he was putting his brother’s address on his phone,” Det. Guerra said. “I informed him that the facility was closed and there were multiple parking lots where he could have pulled over. I requested his license and registration which he provided. Sergeant Brendon O’Malley arrived on scene to assist.”
Detective Guerra said Santana opened the glove compartment, grabbed his registration, and handed it to him.
“Inside the glove compartment, in plain view, I observed an orange prescription pill bottle with a white cap and a label on it,” Det. Guerra said.
Detective Guerra asked Franco about the bottle, and he replied saying it belongs to his mother.
“Inside the bottle were numerous round and oval white pills with different markings on them,” Det. Guerra said. “Based on this information, I requested him to step out of the vehicle. I directed him to the rear of the vehicle and advised him that I would check to see if there was anything else. Franco sat on the guardrail near the front of my cruiser.”
Sergeant O’Malley stayed with Santana while Detective Guerra conducted a probable cause search of the vehicle.
“While conducting a probable cause search, inside the middle console between both front passenger seats were two clear glassine sandwich bags,” Det. Guerra said. “The bags contained a white organic substance with a blue tinge to it which through my training and experience I believed it to be psilocybin mushrooms.”
Detective Guerra retrieved both bags and placed them on the hood of his cruiser.
“Franco looked at me and stated ‘Oh f*ck,’” Det. Guerra said. “It should be noted that Franco appeared to be shaking and nervous, his eyes were wide and his attention was focused on me while I searched different areas of the vehicle.”
At this time, Detective Guerra asked Santana to put his hands behind his back, placed him under arrest, and advised him of the charge.
“I escorted Franco to the rear of Sgt. O’Malley’s cruiser and I transported him to the Clinton police station where he was booked and afforded all applicable rights pertaining to anyone including Miranda and a phone call, which he made,” Det. Guerra said. “After booking, Franco was placed in a male holding cell to await bail. The Bail Commissioner was contacted and bail was set.” (The quantity of bail was not specified in the report obtained by News Link Live).
Detective Guerra reported that the clear sandwich bags containing psilocybin mushrooms had a combined weight of 11.3 grams.
“They were photographed and logged per department policy,” Det. Guerra said. “They were then placed in the narcotics bin for lab testing.”
Franco Ernesto Barreto Santana, 23, was charged with the following:
- Possession of a Class C Substance
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story took place earlier this month, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to obtain the court documents. FOIAs are time-consuming.
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