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Police: Slay victim had drug debt



Murder suspect Luis Lopez, 24, of Central Falls, R.I. is brought into the Foxboro Public Safety Building on Wednesday afternoon. (Photo by Bill Stedman)




FOXBORO - Prosecutors say the 29-year-old man shot to death and dumped on Green Street in the early morning hours of Oct. 15 was attempting to cash a money order to pay a drug debt.

Carlos Gomez of Central Fall, R.I., was shot eight to 10 times during a fatal car ride with associates in a search to cash the money order, Norfolk County Prosecutor Jack Stapleton said Wednesday during a bail hearing in Wrentham District Court.

When he was found dead about 1 a.m. sprawled along Route 106 near Hampshire Street in Foxboro, Gomez had no identification but still had the money order and a hat, Stapleton said.

Police traced the money order and scrutinized Gomez's last moments before arresting Luis Lopez, 23, also of Central Falls, about three weeks later, Stapleton said.

Lopez was ordered held in jail without bail by Judge Warren Powers after pleading innocent to murder.
The investigation is ongoing and Stapleton did not identify a gunman. He said other arrests are expected.

At Stapleton's request and over the objection of Gomez's lawyer, Francis O'Boy of Taunton, Powers also impounded a police affidavit used to obtain the arrest warrant for Lopez.

"The argument by the commonwealth reminds me of why they are holding people in Guantanamo," O'Boy said, referring to the controversial incarceration of prisoners at the U.S. military base in Cuba in this country's war of terror.

O'Boy said he needed the information in the affidavit to adequately prepare a defense for his client. He called the allegations presented in court "suppositions by police" and questioned the procedure used to identify his client.

Stapleton said releasing the affidavit would jeopardize the ongoing investigation.

As part of the evidence in the case, police have a surveillance video from a convenience store near the murder scene allegedly depicting Gomez with Lopez and two other men, Stapleton said.

He did not identify the store.

When questioned by police, Lopez denied any involvement in the murder but became nervous when police questioned him about the men in the video, Stapleton said.

Lopez told police he was in the car with the victim and the other men, but would not answer questions about what happened, Stapleton said.

When asked about the gun, Stapleton said, Lopez "chuckled and he responded 'You don't have to worry about the gun.'"
In court, Lopez stood with his lawyer and showed no visible signs of emotion or acknowledgement of the victim's relatives in court.

Lopez was arrested in early November on a fugitive warrant on the Foxboro murder charge and in Rhode Island for marijuana possession for alleged contraband found in his house.

His only other arrest in Rhode Island was for being disorderly and he has no record in Massachusetts, Stapleton said.

If convicted of murder, he faces life in prison without the chance of parole.

In holding Lopez in jail without bail, Powers said he was persuaded by the prosecution's argument.

"It seems the commonwealth has a pretty strong case at this point against the defendant," Powers said.

His arrest was the result of an extensive investigation by Foxboro police, and state police detectives assigned to the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office.

His appearance in Wrentham court came after waiving rendition proceedings in Rhode Island. He was brought back to Foxboro by Detective Thomas Kirrane and a state police detective.

Lopez is due back in court Dec. 7.

 



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