Turning found heroin over to lawmen no walk in the park

Bruce French after a long wait turns over suspected heroin he found to Maine State Police Trooper Rick Spicer near the Garage Way dam at the bottom of Prospect Hill. (Lebanon Voice photos)

WEST LEBANON - When Bruce French of West Lebanon found a discarded plastic baggie filled with heroin at a canoe launch area at the bottom of Prospect Hill, he probably never supposed it would take hours to turn it over to police.

But it did.

And he probably never certainly thought that when he walked it over to Milton in an effort to turn it over to Milton Police, that he'd be threatened with arrest.

But he was.

French's Frustrating Good Samaritan effort began Wednesday morning when he took his dog to the Milton Veterinarian Clinic, and on his way back home decided to let her go for a swim at the area which overlooks the Garage Way bridge and Milton's waterfront park across Milton Three Ponds.

There were some people swimming near the launch site, so he took his dog closer to the dam to go for a dip.

That's when the dog began sniffing at a plastic baggie on the ground.

"She'll eat anything and it looked suspicious," French said on Wednesday. "So I got it away from her, and it looked to be heroin or cocaine or some kind of drug."

French said he then got another baggie and put the suspected drugs into it, then tried to call police but saw he had no service on his cellphone.

"I asked someone swimming if they had service, and they called," he explained.

Milton Police, however, have no official jurisdiction in Lebanon, however, so French was advised to call Maine State Police, who cover Lebanon.

The baggie of suspected heroin was kept in a safe place while waiting for police to pick it up.

That's when French took matters into his own hands. Knowing that Milton Police were likely closer than MSP, and also knowing that he had taken a vacation day to take his dog to the vet and didn't want to waste it waiting to turn over illegal drugs to law enforcement, he strode to the New Hampshire side of the Garage Way bridge.

"They told me I have to stay and guard the drug. I didn't want to spend a lot of time waiting, so I walked over (to Milton) and talked to Chief (Richard) Krauss (of Milton PD) and told him I was standing in New Hampshire and would he come and get the drug now. He said I had just broken the law and was subject to be arrested," French quipped. "I was trying to get it in the hands of law enforcement, and I'm subject to arrest? I was trying to be a Good Samaritan."

Frustrated, French walked with the heroin back to Lebanon, and got someone at the beach to call State Police.

Soon after a Milton Police Officer came across the bridge and attempted to explain to a small group of swimmers and sunbathers why they couldn't intervene, however, a mom whose children were in the water seemed nonplussed by the response.

The Milton officer also looked at the suspected heroin, which French had stuck into the frame of a sign high off the ground so no children or dogs could get near it.

Another woman sunbathing told The Lebanon Voice she had in the past seen spent heroin needles in the area and that it was a shame such a nice spot had to be despoiled by drug activity.

Maine State Police Trooper Rick Spicer arrived to pick up the suspected heroin around 1 p.m., having been held up a little by a car accident at the corner of Center and TM Wentworth that took down some phone lines.

Spicer thanked French for guarding the illegal drugs and told bystanders to always be extremely cautious if they find suspected illegal drugs, noting that fentanyl and other substances added to the drug can harm individuals just by touching them.

"A lot of law enforcement double-glove themselves before even touching this stuff," he said. "I would be very cautious even touching it."

Spicer said tests have to be taken to determine if it is, in fact, heroin, but he added it looked like heroin and it was packaged like heroin.

Meanwhile, Krauss, reached Wednesday afternoon for comment, said he was sympathetic with French's situation, but reiterated that he can't bring drugs he found in Lebanon into Milton. Asked if he would've arrested French if he had been caught with drugs in Milton as a result of the incident, he said, "I can't answer that question. I told him it was a crime. I understand he's getting impatient, but he can't cross into a state with drugs he found in a different state. I told him he had to wait for Maine State Police at that point."

Krauss added that Milton would always assist in a Lebanon incident if asked by Maine State Police, but would not foray into Maine under any other circumstance excepting a chase immediately after a crime had been committed in Milton, or if a Milton officer actually witnessed a criminal incident in Lebanon.

Maine State Police spokesman Stephen McCausland praised the actions of French this afternoon.

"The young man who found the drugs did the correct thing - notify law enforcement," he said in a statement. "I can't speak for what happened in Milton. ... The trooper took possession with our thanks for turning them in."