CHARLTON — Lieutenant Anthony Gribbons of the Charlton Police Department said that on Monday, October 20, 2025, at approximately 7:30 a.m., Officer Jennifer Burdett was preparing paperwork for court and inventorying property for an arrestee who had been transported to the Worcester County House of Correction–Safe Keep Program, and that she requested he observe the transfer of property for transportation to court.
(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narrative of Lieutenant Anthony Gribbons and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)
“In the process of conducting this inventory, before bringing property to court, loose change and a wad of a cellophane baggie was located in the jacket pocket of Luis Malave,” Lt. Gribbons said.
Lieutenant Gribbons noted that Malave’s property had been placed in a secure cell locker, on camera, following the arrest and had not been removed until that morning while it was being prepared for court.
According to police, Luis I. Malave, 54, is a resident of Worcester, MA.
“In examining the contents of the cellophane wad, two (2) knotted glassine corner baggies were located, each containing a white powdery substance that through the training and experience of Officer Burdett and I were consistent with the manner in which illegal narcotics are stored and transported,” Lt. Gribbons said. “Upon further examination, I conducted a field test of these substances with a Thermo Scientific Tru Narc Device. I conducted the test on video and in the presence of Officer Burdett of each baggie and found that both of these baggies tested positive for cocaine.”
Lieutenant Gribbons stated that he was seeking an additional charge of possession of a Class B substance (cocaine) against Malave. He also noted that Malave had an open warrant for possession of a Class B substance at the time of his arrest.
“The two baggies were placed into evidence and will be submitted for laboratory testing as a result of this criminal charge,” Lt. Gribbons said. “It should be noted that a glassine pipe and a push rod were removed from his property, that was taken at the time of arrest and destroyed as the pipe visually appeared to have residue consistent with that of crack cocaine.”
Malave was arraigned on a charge of possessing a Class B substance in Dudley District Court on Oct. 20, 2025, and was released on $250 cash bail. He failed to appear for his next court date, a pretrial hearing on Nov. 21, 2025. As a result, Judge Andrew Abdella ordered his bail forfeited and issued a default warrant for his arrest.
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the arrest in this story took place in October, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to obtain the court documents. FOIAs are time-consuming.
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