ORANGE — On Saturday, June 13, 2026, at approximately 1:50 p.m., Officer Kyle Johnson of the Orange Police Department was on patrol when he was contacted by Detective Travis Rushford who was off duty and at Tractor Supply.
(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Kyle Johnson and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)
“Detective Rushford informed me that he witnessed Terrence Shufelt walking back and forth from the store to a red F-250 pickup truck bearing Massachusetts registration [# redacted]. Detective Rushford could not see anyone else in or near the vehicle,” Officer Johnson said. “Detective Rushford and I are both familiar with Shufelt and were both aware that he has had a revoked Massachusetts license for a significant amount of time. I conducted an RMV query and confirmed that Shufelt’s license was still revoked.”
According to police, Terrence L. Shufelt, 50, is a resident of Athol, MA.
Officer Johnson said he conducted an RMV query of the vehicle and learned that it was registered to Shufelt’s longtime girlfriend.
“The RMV query showed the vehicle had an inspection sticker that expired on March 1, 2026,” Officer Johnson added.
After Officer Bisceglia arrived in the area, Detective Rushford informed Officer Johnson that he saw Shufelt enter the driver’s seat of the F-250, start the vehicle, and begin driving toward the store’s exit.
“He observed the vehicle turn right onto East Road, a public way in Orange,” Officer Johnson said. “The vehicle stopped at the stop sign at the intersection of East Road and New Athol Road. At that point, I could see the vehicle. I observed the vehicle to have excessively dark window tint. I was not able to see through the side windows. After remaining stationary at the stop sign for some time, the vehicle turned right and began travelling westbound on New Athol Road…I used the radio to inform Officer Bisceglia that the vehicle was travelling away from me and toward him.”
Officer Bisceglia located the vehicle, pulled behind it, and observed that it had a defective brake light.
“He activated his blue lights as the vehicle pulled into House of Wax, a car wash business located at 31 New Athol Road,” Officer Johnson said. “The vehicle came to a stop in the back parking lot of the business. At that time, I arrived at the scene.”
Officer Johnson said he approached the vehicle on the passenger side to speak with the operator.
“When I arrived at the passenger window, I observed Shufelt to be operating the vehicle and there were no other passengers,” Officer Johnson said. “Shufelt began the interaction by asking me how we knew it was him driving. He questioned how we could see through his windows due to the extremely dark tint. I explained to him that the vehicle was stopped for the expired inspection sticker and excessive window tint. Shufelt went on to explain that he has paid $4,000 in tickets while trying to get his license back. He told me he was driving the truck to get to the job he was working on which was at the Crossroads Church located at 92 New Athol Road. He admitted that he went the opposite direction because he saw my patrol vehicle at Crossroads Church. He also admitted that he did not need to use the car wash.”
Officer Johnson said Shufelt admitted to knowing that his license was still revoked but said he was driving because he needed to get to work.
“I used my portable radio to inform dispatch that Shufelt was the operator,” Officer Johnson said. “I asked them to confirm his license status as being revoked and they confirmed that status.”
Officer Johnson asked Shufelt to arrange for someone to pick the vehicle up.
“He said [his girlfriend] would come get it so I asked him to give her a call to arrange that,” Officer Johnson said. “He asked me if he was going to be arrested and I told him he was. Shufelt began to escalate and yell at me. He said he has been stopped by many other police officers and they all let him go. He stated, ‘You guys are going to create a monster, I’ll tell you that.’”
Officer Johnson told Shufelt to step out of the truck and he complied.
“I secured him in handcuffs that were properly fit and double-locked. I asked him if [his girlfriend] was definitely coming to get the truck,” Officer Johnson said. “He said he told her to come get it but she may not know where exactly to go. Shufelt was secured in the rear seat of Officer Bisceglia’s patrol vehicle.”
Officer Bisceglia then transported Shufelt to the Orange Police Department for booking while Officer Johnson remained on scene with the vehicle.
“Prior to leaving, Officer Bisceglia informed me that he observed a metal spoon on the driver’s seat that Shufelt had been sitting on,” Officer Johnson said. “The vehicle was blocking part of the House of Wax parking lot and making it difficult for vehicles to move around. I spoke with two employees and told them that someone should be coming to get the vehicle. I confirmed with them that they did not want the vehicle there since it was impeding their business. Since I did not have absolute confirmation that [Shufelt’s girlfriend] was coming, I requested a tow. I did not want the business to be negatively affected for longer than necessary.”
At this time, Officer Johnson said he began to do an inventory of the vehicle per department policy.
“I observed a metal spoon sitting on the driver’s seat. The spoon had a chalky residue on it. There was also a small piece of foam next to the spoon,” Officer Johnson said.
Officer Johnson said that, based on his training and experience, he believed the items may have been drug paraphernalia.
“Those objects, combined with my knowledge of Shufelt’s history of drug use/possession, gave me reasonable suspicion that there may be narcotics in the vehicle,” Officer Johnson said. “I deployed my drug detection certified K9 for a vehicle sniff. My K9 did not give a final indication on the vehicle. I did not conduct a probable cause search at that time.”
Officer Johnson said that prior to completing the motor vehicle inventor, Shufelt’s girlfriend arrived on scene.
“I cancelled the tow that had just arrived,” Officer Johnson said. “I confirmed her license was active. Prior to her leaving with the vehicle, I received a phone call from Officer Bisceglia. He informed me that Shufelt made some comments about a backpack that was allegedly inside the vehicle. I was told that Shufelt stated there was a backpack in his truck that belonged to a narcotics user.”
Officer Bisceglia also told Officer Johnson that Shufelt said the backpack and its contents did not belong to him.
“Based on these statements, I believed Shufelt was suggesting that there was a backpack in the vehicle that may contain narcotics,” Officer Johnson said. “I searched the interior of the vehicle specifically for a backpack, but there was no backpack in there. I did not see any other evidence of narcotics use or possession. While on the phone with Officer Bisceglia, he also informed me that Shufelt was requesting that I bring his license to him.”
Officer Johnson informed Shufelt’s girlfriend that Shufelt wanted his wallet and asked her to look inside the vehicle for it.
“[Shufelt’s girlfriend] located the wallet on the floor next to the driver’s seat and she handed it to me,” Officer Johnson said.
Officer Johnson then released the vehicle to Shufelt’s girlfriend and returned to the station to complete Shufelt’s booking.
“While at the station, Shufelt was afforded all applicable rights and he made use of the telephone. I brought his wallet into the booking room and searched it,” Officer Johnson said. “The wallet was searched so the contents of his property can be documented, such as how much cash he has in there.”
Officer Johnson said that when he opened the wallet, he could see the corner of a small Ziploc bag protruding from the inside pocket.
“I told Shufelt there was a bag in there and I pulled it out of the wallet in front of him,” Officer Johnson said.
The bag contained a crystal-like substance that Officer Johnson believed was consistent with methamphetamine.
“I told Shufelt it looked like a bag of meth,” Officer Johnson said. “Shufelt became upset and accused me of planting the drugs in his wallet.”
Terrence Shufelt, 50, of Athol, was charged with the following violations/offenses:
- Possess Class B Drug (methamphetamine)
- Operating Motor Vehicle with License Revoked as HTO (Habitual Traffic Offender)
- Window Obstructed/Nontransparent
- Motor Vehicle Lights Violation
- No Inspection Sticker
Shufelt’s bail was set at $100 cash.
“Shufelt was able to produce the bail money and was released at approximately 4:18 p.m.,” Officer Johnson said.
Shufelt’s arraignment was scheduled for the morning of June 15, 2026, in Orange District Court.
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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