Maine man arrested after traffic stop in Ayer unveils loaded handgun, cocaine

AYER — On Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026, at approximately 9:20 p.m., Ayer Police Officer Jared Splaine was monitoring traffic from a stationary position on East Main Street when he observed the driver of a Jeep with New Hampshire plates wearing black over-the-ear headphones. Splaine said the Jeep’s license plate lights were also not functioning.

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

“I pulled onto the roadway and turned on my blue emergency lights to initiate a motor vehicle stop,” Officer Splaine said. “The vehicle pulled over to the right on the one-way portion of Harvard Road.”

Officer Splaine approached the vehicle from the driver’s side and introduced himself to the operator, who was later identified as Joseph Diaz Jones.

According to police, Joseph Diaz Jones, 26, is a resident of Sanford, Maine.

“Joseph was still wearing his headphones until I instructed him to remove them. The left headphone was covering his left ear upon my approach,” Officer Splaine said. “When I first noticed Joseph while he was driving, the right headphone was covering his right ear. I noticed that Joseph’s pupils were heavily dilated. Joseph was also on the phone with someone he referred to as ‘Nonni.’ Joseph later told me it was his brother Noah.”

Officer Splaine said he then asked Jones for his license and registration.

“Joseph began to search for his registration,” Officer Splaine said. “Joseph then spontaneously told me that he lives in Maine, and that he was just at a girl’s house.”

Officer Splaine said Jones told him that he just moved to Maine and when the officer asked him where he moved from, Jones replied, “What do you mean?”

Officer Splaine clarified with a follow-up question, asking, “Where did you move to Maine from?” and Jones replied, “I’ve lived in Maine for like three months now.’”

Officer Splaine said that he found Jones’s inability to answer his simple questions odd, and noticed that he was becoming increasingly agitated while looking for his registration.

“I tried clarifying the question to Joseph, saying, ‘You said you just moved there, I was just curious where you moved there from.’ Joseph finally told me he moved from Manchester, New Hampshire,” Officer Splaine said. “I asked Joseph where he was coming from, and he said he was seeing a girl down the street…adding that she’s also from Maine and he’s been ‘seeing her for a little bit.’ Joseph then continued searching for his registration while angrily muttering to himself.”

Officer Splaine then offered to walk around to the passenger side of the vehicle and shine a light into Jones’ glove box to assist in his search.

“When I did so, I noticed a small tied plastic baggie containing a rolled-up dollar bill and a white powdery substance that, based upon my training and experience, I recognized to be consistent with the packaging of illegal narcotics,” Officer Splaine said. “The bag was resting on the surface of the front passenger’s seat. I asked Joseph what the bag was and he held it up and told me it was a straw. I ordered Joseph to give me the bag and he complied, saying that it was ‘from earlier.’”

Officer Splaine radioed Officer Nicholas Trinque and requested that he respond to the scene.

“I asked Joseph if there were any additional narcotics in the vehicle and Joseph paused, looked around, then reached deep into the back seat down by the passenger’s side floorboard,” Officer Splaine said.

Officer Splaine said he asked Jones to stop reaching and he complied.

“I asked Joseph if there were any other narcotics in the vehicle besides the powder, and asked what it was,” Officer Splaine said. “Joseph replied, ‘That was just cocaine, sir, and that’s it.’”

When Officer Trinque arrived on scene, Officer Splaine ordered Jones out of the vehicle and placed him in handcuffs in order to detain him.

“I informed Joseph that we would be conducting a probable cause search of the vehicle and asked him if there was anything else in the vehicle,” Officer Splaine said. “Joseph then informed me that there was a firearm in the backseat. As I detained Joseph, I noticed his skin was warmer than normal to the touch. I also noticed that Joseph was shaking so steadily that he was essentially vibrating.”

Officer Splaine asked Jones when the last time he used cocaine was.

“I then told Joseph to wait until I got him to my car, where I planned to read him his Miranda warnings before allowing him to answer,” Officer Splaine said. “Officer Trinque then conducted a search of Joseph’s person for additional narcotics and weapons.”

Jones was then placed in the rear of Officer Splaine’s cruiser where Officer Splaine read him his Miranda rights from a card he carries on his person.

“Joseph agreed to answer questions,” Officer Splaine said. “I asked Joseph what his final destination was this evening. Joseph said, ‘I live in Wells.’ I asked if that is where he was headed and he said yes.”

Officer Splaine said the address listed on packages located in Jones’ vehicle showed that he lived in an apartment in Sanford, Maine, not Wells.

“I asked Joseph if he had ever lived in Massachusetts and he said, ‘A long time ago,’” Officer Splaine said. “I asked Joseph, ‘Where is your LTC, in your vehicle?’ Joseph said, ‘In the back, either right or left.’ I clarified: ‘Your license to carry firearms.’ Joseph answered, ‘It’s a private sale and I’m not a felon.’”

Officer Splaine said a query of the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) database confirmed that Jones did not have an active Massachusetts license to carry.

“I asked Joseph if he was the only person who drives this car and he said yes,” Officer Splaine said. “I contacted dispatch and asked them to reach out to drug recognition experts in our area. No drug recognition experts were available.”

Officer Splaine then returned to Jones’ vehicle and conducted a probable cause search for narcotics and firearms.

“I located a black Taurus TX22 handgun bearing serial #1PT406631 in the back seat on the floorboard where Joseph had been reaching earlier,” Officer Splaine said. “The firearm was unsecured, did not have a holster, and was resting upside down on top of discarded fast-food containers. I suspected that Joseph had hastily discarded the firearm into the back seat at some time before my first contact. I removed the magazine from the firearm and noted that it contained a total of sixteen live cartridges of .22 LR ammunition. There was no ammunition in the chamber of the weapon upon inspection.”

Officer Splaine contacted dispatch and asked them to check the serial number of the firearm.

“Dispatch relayed that the firearm was not entered as stolen,” Officer Splaine said. Adding, “There were no stolen entries matching this serial, nor was there any record of it being registered in Massachusetts.”

Officer Splaine said he placed the firearm and bag of suspected cocaine on the front passenger seat of his cruiser while Officer Trinque retrieved an evidence bag.

“At the conclusion of the search, I informed dispatch that Joseph was under arrest and I requested the next in line for a tow. Terranova [Auto Body] was notified.” Officer Splaine said. “I then advised Joseph that he was under arrest.”

Jones asked Officer Splaine if he could have his girlfriend take possession of the vehicle.

Officer Splaine asked Jones for his girlfriend’s last name and he was unable to provide it, adding that he had only known her for two days.

Jones told Officer Splaine that his girlfriend lives in the trailer park in Shirley on Great Road, and specified the unit.

“I contacted Officer [David] Hammack in Shirley and asked him to make contact with [Jones’ girlfriend],” Officer Splaine said. “Officer Hammack made contact with [the woman], who told him that Joseph had stayed overnight with her last night and just left about forty minutes ago. [She] did not possess a valid license to operate a motor vehicle and was therefore unable to take possession of the vehicle for Joseph.”

Officer Trinque then conducted an inventory of Jones’ vehicle and found a digital scale that had been wedged out of view against the side wall of the center console.

“On the surface of the scale was an immediately perceptible amount of white powdery residue. I retrieved a NARK cocaine swipe from my vest pocket and swiped the surface of the scale,” Officer Splaine said. “The swipe turned bright blue, indicating a positive result for the presence of cocaine. I returned to my cruiser and asked Joseph what the scale was for. Joseph said, ‘It’s for my weed.’ I then held up the swipe and asked him why there was cocaine on the surface of the scale. Joseph said that he portions his cocaine. Based on my experience with cocaine users, I found this answer to be highly improbable.”

Officer Splaine said the scale was placed into the evidence bag with the firearm, magazine, and suspected cocaine.

“The suspected cocaine was not field tested due to Joseph’s admission where he stated that it was cocaine,” Officer Splaine explained.

At around this time, Terranova Auto Body arrived on scene and took possession of Jones’ vehicle.

Officer Splaine said he transported Jones to the police station, where he and Officer Trinque completed the booking process.

“Joseph provided his phone number as [# redacted], and had two phones in his possession at the time of arrest,” Officer Splaine said. “During booking, I noticed that Joseph had a five-pointed crown tattooed on the back of his hand with ‘RIP YAYA’ written on the inside of the crown.”

Officer Splaine said that, based on his training and experience, he recognized a five-point crown tattoo as commonly associated with the Latin Kings gang.

“I asked Joseph what the tattoo was for and he said it was for a deceased family member. Officer [Michael] Nicolo later photographed the tattoo,” Officer Splaine said. Later adding, “Joseph also told Officer Nicolo that he buys five grams of cocaine at a time.”

Jones’ bail was set at $500.

Jones was placed in a holding cell at the Ayer Police Department at 11:11 p.m., and was bailed out at 12:17 a.m.

Officer Splaine said the suspected cocaine weighed 1.9 grams, and the firearm, suspected cocaine and scale were placed into evidence.

Jones was arraigned in Ayer District Court on Aug. 17, 2026. Following his arraignment, he was held pending a dangerousness hearing scheduled for Aug. 18, 2026.

During the dangerousness hearing on Aug. 18, Jones was ordered to pay $1,000 cash bail with $500 already posted, and released on $500 bail posted by a surety under the condition that he not commit any additional crimes, possess no firearms, destructive devices, or dangerous weapons, and not use alcohol or drugs.

Jones’ next court date is a pretrial hearing scheduled to take place over Zoom on Sept. 16, 2026.

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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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