Southbridge man charged with larceny, withholding evidence during Charlton overdose response

CHARLTON — On Monday, October 6, 2025, at approximately 3:30 p.m., Officer Timothy Bullock of the Charlton Police Department was dispatched to 99 Smith Road following a report of an unresponsive male.

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

Being familiar with the residence, I suspected the call might involve a possible drug overdose,” Officer Bullock said. “Upon arrival, I entered the front door and observed a male performing CPR on an unresponsive male lying on the floor. The male performing CPR was later identified as Dustin Chamberland.”

According to police, Dustin J. Chamberland, 38, is a resident of Southbridge, MA.

“I immediately administered Narcan and took over CPR on the victim. Once Charlton EMS arrived on scene, I escorted Mr. Chamberland outside and obtained his account of what had occurred,” Officer Bullock said. “Mr. Chamberland, who was the only other person present, initially stated that he had gone to check on his friend’s well-being. However, his story began to unravel as the investigation continued.”

Officer Bullock said that, at one point, Chamberland asked to re-enter the residence to retrieve his bag from the kitchen.

“I allowed him to do so, but before he left the front steps, I requested to search the backpack and conducted a pat frisk for officer safety (unsecured firearms in plain view inside residence),” Officer Bullock said. “Inside the backpack, I located a small plastic bag knotted-off in the corner, consistent with packaging commonly used to transport narcotics.”

Officer Bullock said he then patted down Chamberland and asked him to remove the contents of his pockets.

“He complied and emptied his left pocket into his backpack,” Officer Bullock said. “When I checked the pocket, I felt a small, cylindrical hard object. I asked Mr. Chamberland to remove it. He pulled out a small glass jar, looked at it intently, and stated, ‘I don’t know what the f*ck that is,’ to which I replied, ‘Yeah, you do.’ Mr. Chamberland then said, ‘It’s not mine.’ А short time later, he admitted, ‘I didn’t want him getting in trouble. I picked it up off the f*cking desk – I didn’t want the kid getting in trouble.’”

Officer Bullock said that, based on his training and experience, the blue powdery substance in the jar appeared consistent with a mixture of xylazine and fentanyl.

“Mr. Chamberland’s statements clearly indicate that he took deliberate steps to conceal evidence of illicit drug use before first responders arrived. This shows he made a conscious decision to remove the narcotics from plain view before beginning CPR on the victim,” Officer Bullock said. “While speaking further with Mr. Chamberland, I observed a blue powdery residue around his left nostril. He later admitted that he had snorted a small amount of the blue substance with the victim and believed it contained an opioid-like substance. This contradicted his earlier statement that he had merely come by to perform a well-being check.”

Officer Bullock said that, knowing Chamberland had recently used the same blue substance now concealed in his pocket, he believed Chamberland took the jar of suspected narcotics for personal use rather than solely to conceal it.

“After clearing the scene and returning to the station to process evidence, I was later summoned back when additional evidence was discovered,” Officer Bullock said. “Officer Michael Fournier reported that while speaking with Mr. Chamberland, he observed him discard a blue pill onto the ground and attempt to conceal it with his backpack. Moments later, Mr. Chamberland stood up and placed his foot over the pill. Officer Fournier confronted him and directed him to reveal the item.”

Officer Bullock said he went back to the scene and retrieved the round blue pill marked “A67.”

“I transported the pill to the station for processing. Both the glass jar containing the blue powdery substance and the single blue pill will be sent for chemical analysis,” Officer Bullock said.

Officer Bullock said the aforementioned charges were supported by Chamberland’s deceptive behavior, including removing and concealing a jar of suspected narcotics prior to first responders’ arrival, admitting to recent drug use with the victim, and later attempting to hiding a blue pill during the investigation.

Chamberland’s arraignment is scheduled for Dec. 22, 2025, in Dudley District Court.

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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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