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Cohasset Police: Home Invasion not a random act
Created by Patriot Ledger 4/27/10 on 25th May 2010, 9:48 pmCOHASSET - Two burly intruders identifying themselves as police officers barged into a convicted drug dealer’s Cohasset home, bound him to a radiator and threatened to set him on fire unless he handed over money and drugs.
Those details of an alleged Saturday night home invasion were released Monday by Cohasset police, who did not name the 22-year-old man who told investigators the intruders stole cash and a laptop computer.
But the alleged victim’s address, 37 Cushing Road, and information released about his 2008 drug conviction, matches that of a case against Brien J. Buckley, who is listed as living at the home.
Buckley is well known to police. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail in 2007 for assaulting a Cohasset police officer who confronted him about vandalizing a mailbox, according to court records. A year later, police characterized his arrest on drug charges as a major disruption to the local marijuana supply.
Court records show Buckley pleaded guilty in that case to marijuana possession and dealing charges and to possession of a switchblade. Counts of conspiracy and dealing drugs near a school zone were dismissed. Buckley received a one-year suspended jail sentence and was ordered to undergo random drug testing.
According to a police report filed in connection with the November 2008 case, Buckley had been robbed that January when a deal to sell two pounds of marijuana near his home went bad. Four men attacked him after the transaction, stealing the cash he had just collected. A witness reported the crime; all four assailants were arrested, according to the report.
Buckley’s arrest that November came days after the U.S. Secret Service notified Cohasset police that a man has tried to deposit several counterfeit $20 bills at a local bank. The man, Benjamin H. Lynner, told investigators that Buckley – a former high school classmate – had handed him the bills during a marijuana transaction, according to the report.
Days later, police staked out Buckley’s house and arrested him. Inside they found two pounds of marijuana, crack cocaine, psilocybin mushrooms and $7,266 in a search of his home.
At 10:45 p.m. Saturday, officers found the 22-year-old man “visibly upset – his hands and feet bound,” according to a police statement.
The alleged intruders knocked on the man’s door and pushed their way inside after claiming to be police officers. The victim said he had been blindfolded, bound, and tied to a radiator while his home was ransacked.
The men fled with “a quantity of cash” and a computer.
Police Chief Mark DeLuca said in the statement that the home invasion is not believed to be random. The man told police the intruders called him by name and appeared to have some knowledge of his habits.
After the two men left, the victim crawled to a neighbor’s house and asked them to call 911.
The intruders were described as stocky white males, each about 40 years old and with dark hair. A description of their vehicle was not given.
Buckley did not return a phone call Monday.
