O.B. Police seize nearly a kilo of cocaine

By
Rich Saltzberg
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59
Shamar Hyatt was arraigned on a number of drug charges Friday. He appeared in court via Zoom.

Two people were arraigned on drug charges in Edgartown District Court Friday morning following the seizure of 850 grams of cocaine (nearly a kilo). Judge Benjamin Barnes set combined bail for Shamar Hayatt, 33, at $2,200 — far less than the $26,000 ADA Matt Palazzolo requested. Hayatt was arraigned on a charge of trafficking 100 grams or more, less than 200 grams of cocaine; distribution of a class B substance; and possession of a class B substance with the intent to distribute.

Palazzolo alleged Hayatt and a woman named Sara Budhai were selling cocaine out of an Oak Bluffs business.

Palazzolo also alleged Hayatt admitted to selling cocaine. He added that police allegedly seized, in addition to cocaine, $8,500 cash, cutting agent, a scale, and sandwich bags at Hayatt’s and Budhai’s residence. 

Palazzolo said once both defendants get lawyers, the trafficking charge will be amended to 200 grams or more, which carries a 12-year minimum sentence. Palazzolo suggested Hayatt was a flight risk.

Hayatt’s bail attorney, Casey Dobel, requested Hayatt be released on personal recognizance. Dobel said Hayatt has been very cooperative with law enforcement, and even waived his Miranda rights. 

Bail was set for Budhai at $350, according to an Oak Bluffs press release. The investigation, seizure, and arrests were made in cooperation with the M.V. Drug Task Force and the DEA, according to the release. 

Oak Bluffs Police Chief Jonathan Searle said the drugs recovered appear to constitute the largest cocaine seizure ever on the Vineyard.

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59 COMMENTS

  1. Absolutely disgusting! This bail is justifiable for the action? Seems like the people who place low bails on drug traffickers have never lost a child to the dope that they get rich off of. When is Massachusetts ever going to wake up to this?
    Ocala, Fl “man leading drug trafficking organization sentenced to 38 years”!
    THIS is what it should be. I can’t wrap my head around the fact that drug dealers in MA continue to walk and go right back on the streets to kill again. Before anyone jumps down my throat, I did not say these people killed anyone. But how do we know they didn’t or will when they walk.
    Drug dealers laugh at our system because there are NO consequences.

    • cathy– read the article– if convicted they face a minimum sentence of 12 years in jail.
      You think that is not a consequence?
      Remember, they are presumed innocent.
      Would you be happier if bail was set a $50,000 and they posted it ?
      Is the bail system only there to help the wealthy ?

        • So Jacki, I read your link that you had to go back to 2020 to find written by Seth Cohen and to quote him…

          “The truth is there is only one sordid reason for why attacks on George Soros are constantly trending, and it is not because of his money or his politics. It is because he is Jewish.”

          Does this really make sense that the ONLY reason you disagree with Mr Soros is because of his religion? It’s a cop out and anyone who has to revert to saying, well you don’t like my opinion it’s because of my ethnicity or religion has clearly lost the debate. It’s weak. There are as many reasons to dislike Soros as there are Trump. Not a fan of either or the crazies at QAnon.

          • Carl- I will agree with you that the fact that Soros is Jewish is not the ONLY reason the right hates him and is willing to lie about him and come up with crazy theories about him.
            It is , however the dominant reason. Of course, his money and his political leanings add to the hysteria.
            We have talked about implicit bias many times on this forum. Most people don’t carry torches around and chant “Jews will not replace us”. Those are radical people , but it is my opinion that anyone who believes even a small fraction of the unprovable conspiracy theories about Soros has a level of anti-Semitism that at least rises to “implicit”.
            I feel a little sorry for Eddie in that he has been spoon fed so many right wing lies that his opinions are the equivalent of a foie gras duck that is incapable of flying.
            He might not be anti Semitic but he knows all the dog whistles.
            Bit it’s not his fault. He has been conditioned, and salivates at the sound of every one.
            Look further down, and note how immigration got into this.

          • Don… I admittedly do not follow Soros and don’t know all too much about him. I knew he is Hungarian but didn’t know he was Jewish. I just think of him as a really rich guy trying to influence elections just like the Koch brothers. Put me in the category of their is too much money in politics and wanting term limits. You will never convince me politicians are on the up and up when they have to raise 2 million dollars every year for a job that pays 174k. It just doesn’t add up.

          • Don, good comment. And patient, too. People who use antisemitic dog whistles are promoting antisemitism. Whether they are too stupid to understand that they are repeating antisemitic vomit, no one can say. But make no mistake, bringing up Soros in this conversation about a local drug bust is antisemitic, intentional or not– as questioning immigration status is racist and xenophobic. Immigration is another dog whistle that Fox followers seem to make applicable even when it is not. And some people just need to throw up a comment, even when they admit they don’t know what they’re talking about. Wonder how many geniuses there are who think that reading one article makes them think they’re educated enough to spout their ignorance. Half the country, it seems. This is how it spreads. People think they’re sharing their opinion, but what they’re sharing is their ignorance. Hard for me to feel sorry for that.

          • Yes Jacki reading one article does not make one a subject expert. Or posting a link that is from a far left author. I could find lots of links from far right sources that agree with my point. But they would be discarded because they are from Fox or Breibart just like I discard yours. But thanks for sharing. Any person that speaks in such absolutes such as the ONLY reason why people don’t like Soros is because of his religion has zero credibility.

      • eddieee—Tell us how Soros has influenced the Vineyard on this one– Really, I would like to know how Soros (presumably George Soros) who is the go to boogeyman for right wing nut cases to blame everything on influenced this.
        Chose your words carefully, as the liberals here will not just accept partisan claptrap as fact. Or what ever it is— is it even partisan ? It seems like it’s just blindly shouting out a dog whistle and the believers will get excited.
        If there are any people here who have some evidence that George Soros supports crack addicts or whatever it is that Eddie is trying to covey here, or even a rational argument or opinion about that, please help him out– He is not making a clear case for anything. He is just adding to the embarrassing pile of partisan foolishness that right wing nut cases are trying to dig out from under already.
        May I remind you Eddie– you are not on Fox “news” or Truth social here.

        • Don, here’s more on why some “…unhinged conservatives are so obsessed with George Soros, the Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor and generous donor to humanitarian and free-market causes… Why do they invoke him whenever they’re cornered? Why, in defense of their indefensible positions, do they insist that all conspiratorial roads lead back to Soros? Since they obviously need a scapegoat, why haven’t they laser-focused on, say, Warren Buffett or Bill Gates or Tom Steyer? Why does Soros fill the bill?”

          He’s Jewish, duh.

          https://whyy.org/articles/why-are-right-wing-paranoids-so-obsessed-with-george-soros/

          • Jackie he is a the founder of Open Society, an organization that promotes one world order and community rather than individuality. He uses his money for left wing causes and the fact that his institution is eleemosynary has nothing to do with peoples disdain for his causes. His Jewish heritage is irrelevant. I dont like him, I am part Jewish and I financially support Jews both in the USA and in Israel.

    • Cathy, bail is not for punishment.
      It is to reasonable assure the arrested and charged will return for trial.
      Most of our coke comes through Florida with some via Texas.
      I am good with these guys never returning to the Island.
      We don’t need them, their families, their friends or their lawyers here.

      • Proving the ‘kingpin” was in on the misplaced documents will be a tougher case. He’ll easily blame aides/attorneys/Melania – anyone. That man has evaded arrest for tax evasion and rape, not to mention countless bankruptcies and other illicit activities.. Pretty sure this won’t take him down either.

  3. Great work OBPD. Thanks for the selfless work you do to keep our community safe. You have done your job now let’s hope the judicial system does theirs.

  4. What do you expect? Massachusetts is a “Blue Santuary State”, the island is obviously part of that state and most peiople are quite proud of that!

    **WHATEVER** :+(

    • I am proud that my State is a a Sanctuary State.
      Why do you continue live in Massachusetts?
      Have you no pride?
      The Island has PRIDE.

      • AH, Will you still be as happy when Texas starts sending buses full to Massachusetts and possibly Woods Hole like they have been doing to NYC & Chicago, Washington D.C. and possible Oregon?
        Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said it’s time Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, Cambridge and other blue cities “where Democratic elites host cocktail parties” share in the immigration crisis at the southern border.

        In closing, I don’t need to be schooled in having `pride`!

        • Careful what you wish for Woody– some of those northern cities might catch on and send busses filled with homeless people to Texas or Florida when the weather gets cold. I hear Melbourne Beach Fl. is a nice warm place that the homeless in Boston would love to spend the winter at.

      • Everyone is proud that their States are sanctuary States until bus loads of illegals arrive. Do they let everyone out at Wood’s Hole or do the busses get on the boat when MV welcomes it’s proud new residents?

    • You live in a bad town, on a bad island, in a bad state in country where Socialists rule.
      You are free to go.

  5. the laws for crack and coke are quite different.
    Crack ( which is cocaine) and primarily used by the black community carries draconian consequences.
    Cocaine is primarily used by the white community that snorts it through rolled up $100 bills, and has lighter sentencing guidelines.
    Go figure.

    • Glad you know these drug user profiles so well. Your facetious and unsubstantiated comments, as usual, don’t pass muster with most. You need to “get a life” outside of being a non factual and verbose scribe.

      • Hey, Eddie, speaking of facetious and unsubstantiated, do tell us about how your mind managed to bring up Soros regarding this story. The obsession to tie unrelated information to George Soros (!) is something QAnon conspiracy theories spout. And in case you were too lazy to read the link I posted, the obsession with Soros boils down to two things: antisemitism and racism. If you can’t explain yourself here, we’ll have our answer.

      • Eddie, I don’t really understand the QAnon thing and don’t want to waste the time with it.

        But are you trying to make the cause and effect argument that if one solely supports DA’s who are soft on crime then crime rates go up?

        I think one could articulate that Mr Soros has done just that. He is of course free to support who he wants. But we all have to live with the consequences.

        And don’t pay attention to those that appear to be trolling you. I imagine you have a much thicker skin.

    • Don, the drugs are quite different but please see the link below. Whites were actually the predominant users of crack. It’s when a certain U S Senator who went on to become President called minority crack addicted people super predators that the law was changed and disproportionately affected minorities.
      https://americanaddictioncenters.org/cocaine-treatment/differences-with-crack
      I’m actually quite disappointed with your post Don, you can do better. This just feeds into the left wing…. I’m just messing with you Keller. Just my sense of humor and I know you have one too Lol.

      • Correction Don I misspoke he just called them predators is was Hillary that called them super predators. And I forgot to say either treat all schedule 1 narcotics the same legally or make them legal and let Darwin take over. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.

        • Carl– as is usually the case,your link is very informative– Thanks.
          And I really mean it– not messing with you.
          I’m for the Darwin option..

  6. Thanks to the Oak Bluffs Police and the DEA for stopping this death powder getting on the streets…. the bail???????????????????????? LUDICROUS!!!!!!!!!! lets see if they show up…. THANK GOD THIS STUFF IS OFF THE STREET!!!!!!!!!!
    When will it be imp enough to make an example of???????????
    Sooooooooooooo glad this crap is off the street…..

    • Laughable question.
      The majority of drugs come via airplane, then you have boarder countries north and south. I recall Miami Florida being a source of drugs coming to the Vineyard. By highway to the SSA and to the Island.
      I was just speaking with a longtime friend that we remembered someone starting in our jr high school days and still today as far as we know, continues dealing drugs. Sad and infuriating that they are still walking around free. Yes
      I agree.
      Definitely thankful for all of the departments involved in this arrest and seizure.

  7. To all of the people attacking these people over their unknown immigration status, you should be ashamed.

    Would you have said the same thing if their skin was white and their name was Domenic Fantini?

    Of course not.

    Disgusting.

  8. I know that it’s hard to understand the rationale for this type of low bail, but the reason for bail is to insure that the defendants appear in Court each and every time they are supposed to. We can’t know enough from this article as to the connections the defendants have with the Island and perhaps that’s why Judge Barnes determined the amount of bail as he did. Either way, I agree that thanks go out to the OBPD for a great job with this large drug bust.

  9. So, the OB police can find a kilo of cocaine but the Tisbury Police can’t even solve the internal theft of a Glock firearm?

    • James– It seems the island’s various police forces have their own fortes .
      O.B.seems to be good at busting illicit drug dealers.
      Tilbury seems to be good at busting illicit honey dealers.

      So they can’t find a gun– big deal.
      Give them some credit for what they have done to keep us safe. .

  10. Should be legal. Prohibition didn’t work for booze and it doesn’t work for drugs. Wanna get rid of the cartels? Legalize drugs. If folks didn’t want it they couldn’t sell it. Change the word “cocaine” to “rum” in this article and it could have been written 100 years ago. Don’t like drugs? Don’t do them. Don’t like booze? Don’t drink. Because I can’t handle cocaine nobody should be allowed to snort a little? Booze makes me do stupid things so no one should be allowed to have a glass of wine with dinner? Makes sense.

    • People who do not use drugs and alcohol are frequently and negatively impacted by those who do. It’s not a live-and-let-live topic like many choices in life. Sesame Street had to create a segment about adults attending meetings because so many kids are struggling with their parents’ addictions.

  11. Apparently you are living in a cave and not seeing the effects of the open border crisis our country is facing. Drugs are flowing freely through the border to such a point that our average life expectancy has dropped from 79 years to 76 years due mostly to drug overdoses. Do you seriously think this is okay? Maybe you are okay with the drugs but are you also okay with the human trafficking? Are you good with the children drowning in the Rio Grande? Where does your zealotry end and your compassion for humanity begin.

    • Please post a credible source backing up your claim that life expectancy has dropped “mostly to drug overdoses”

    • John– make sure you read my comment about your lack of understanding basic statistical analysis in my most recent comment to you below.
      Where do you come off asking me if I am ok with the number of drug overdoses ?
      Where do you come off asking me if I am ok with human trafficking ?
      Where do you come off asking me if I am good with children drowning in the Rio grand ?
      How do I have anything to do with it ?

      I want people who are desperate, abused, and starving to arrive at our borders in the hope of a better life for their children without having their children ripped out of their arms in some sick policy of some sick wanna be xenophobic dicktater.
      I want my country to provide a legal path for those people to live in America and contribute to the American dream.
      I want those people to not have to swim across the Rio Grande. I want those people to be able to get to a legal border crossing and at least try to convince immigration that they are not smuggling drugs or are rapist.
      I want my country to monitor the border crossings where drugs are coming in by the truckloads rather than spend billions of our taxpayer dollars on some xenophobic symbol of intolerance.

      You know the 3 words I want to say here.

      Yeah, you guessed right.
      Happy labor day.

      • Don… I look at MV as a microcosm of our society at times and immigration is a good example. It’s noble to want to help everyone at all costs but we just can’t. Life is not fair and at times it stinks.

        MV can’t or won’t even take care of their own. There isn’t enough affordable housing and people lose their minds building new construction when it is even mentioned. The infrastructure is at its brink and the sewage treatment is over capacity as it is. We can’t even build a school or a field for our kids without a monumental fight.

        What would happen to this island if 500 people arrived every month with very little and even less prepared in the way of self reliance in foreign country. Will islanders suddenly change their ways and accept the building of apartment complexes and bigger more expensive school. We we accept even more traffic. All we hear about is keeping the island the same at every turn but that would be impossible with a mass influx of new people. This is what is going on all over the country now and we are just not equipped to handle it. Could we yes, but other things would have to give. The question is what and are we willing to make the sacrifices. I don’t see MV willing to build low income apartments complexes and until we do we should have sympathy for towns that are hosting this population. It’s a tuff one for sure. I’m not arguing with you just sharing my thoughts.

        • “Will islanders suddenly change their ways and accept the building of apartment complexes and bigger more expensive school. ”

          Of course Islanders will take these needy families into their homes while the families wait for permanent housing.

          I’m surprised that anyone would question this.

        • Carl– I agree with you that the Vineyard has plenty of privileges.
          There are a number of reasons why the Vineyard is a poor choice to have a major influx of mostly unskilled labor. But let me point out that there a lots of communities –mostly in the rural heartland, that are having serious problems with declining populations. We also recently lost over a million us citizens to covid. Mr. Axel is correct that life expectancy is dropping.
          In fact the birth rate in the U.S is about 1.75 children per woman.
          2.1 is considered the rate needed to maintain a steady population.
          The point is we need immigration just to sustain a population.
          The right wing media have conjured up this “open border” myth, and I think they actually believe it. Certainly their gullible sheep who need a scapegoat for everything believe it.
          I think immigration control is essential to our country.
          It should be done in a rational and humane way.
          On the extreme end of things, you know what administration wanted to just round up 11 million people and deport them to countries that some of them left when they were infants and had never returned. here is an example of the consequences :
          https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/michigan-man-who-had-never-been-iraq-was-deported-there-n1040426
          how did that happen in America ?
          Mr Axel asked me about children drowning while trying to swim the Rio Grand.
          They wouldn’t be swimming across if they weren’t terrified of the consequences of applying for legal asylum at a border facility.
          I’ll put the blame for those children at the feet of the people who craft these draconian policies that he supports.
          And you are correct again about the method that smugglers use to get drugs into this country– Uninspected trucks coming through customs terminals.
          The 5 billion dollars spent on an easily breach able wall would have been better spent and more effective at slowing the rate of illicit drug smuggling by putting more agents and developing better technologies there. The problem is that kind of stuff is not visible and doesn’t pander to the tiny racist brains of the aforementioned sheep.
          even fox reported on the fallacy of “the big, beautiful impenetrable wall” that Mexico didn’t pay for.
          https://fox4kc.com/news/smugglers-cut-through-trump-border-wall-over-3000-times-report-says/
          And where are those doors ?
          https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10155682665691509
          It would really be funny if it weren’t so stupid and expensive.

    • Lol
      Move and help build the wall.
      Again, considering airplanes are how the majority of drugs come into the United States a wall is useless and a waste of money. But hey your choice of role models is sad as he admitted to wanting to do his daughter.

      • Brenda, please see attached links. Overland smuggling makes up the dominant way drugs get smuggled into this country. By far. Not planes.
        https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs38/38661/movement.htm
        However we only inspect about 2% of the shipping containers entering our ports. If I were a betting man this would far outweigh overland smuggling.
        Also, walls, fences barricades are effective mitigating crossings. This administration is using these effective tools in places that require it. They are also using other tools as well. In my opinion we are not set up or capable of stopping this rapid influx of illegal immigration. Like it or not every state will need to accept the consequences of the sheer volume of new people entering this country. And I’m not smart enough to know what those consequences will be but I am smart enough to know that there will be some.

    • “what’s their immigration status ? ” were your words above when commenting on the persons involved in this drug bust (congrats, OB P.D.). As if to imply that all those HUMANS risking life and limb to get here are drug smugglers, as opposed to HUMANS trying to escape abject poverty and crime-ridden countries where they have little to no opportunity to have peaceful lives and raise happy and healthy families. Where does your zealotry end and your compassion for HUMANity begin.

  12. Excuse me, John Axel, for jumping in here, but you are stating misleading “facts”.
    There is no “open border”. This administration is trying to lessen illegal immigration, just as the past several administrations have attempted, only Biden treats those folks more humanely than you know who did.
    Who is responsible for the drug overdoses? Sure, those who bring in fentanyl, etc. are to blame, but what about those who created and sold the opioids indiscriminately, getting not much more than a slap on the wrist.
    Do you think that most of the poor people struggling to find a better life in the U.S. are drug traffickers? The immigration issue is a difficult problem indeed, occurring all over the world. Scape-goating either the current administration, or the refugees themselves, does nothing to solve the problem.

  13. John I think you are responding to me with you comment that begins with I am living in a cave.
    Well, my cave is equipped with devices that gan give me information about all manner of things.
    So lets start with your assertion about life expectancy–
    you found the numbers in your favor to make it look like there was a drop of 3 years
    In reality 2019 was our highest year with an expectancy of 78.86 yrs you rounded up– fair enough.
    It went down to 76.6 yrs in 2021. This time you improperly rounded down. not fair.
    Actual drop was 2yrs 3 months, not 3 as you falsely assert.
    I will properly round the numbers and call it 2 years.

    https://www.news.vcu.edu/article/2022/04/us-life-expectancy-continued-to-fall-in-2021#:~:text=U.S.%20life%20expectancy%20decreased%20from,not%20yet%20been%20peer%20reviewed.

    then we have drug overdoses
    In the 20 month period between march 2020 and oct 2021 there were apx 148,635 drug overdoses of all types including suicidal overdoses and hospital errors, and by the way, it included drugs manufactured within the united states, and we know there a few meth labe here.
    https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2021/20211117.htm

    then we have covid deaths
    In the same 20 month period, There were 697,000 covid deaths.
    Covid was the third leading cause of deaths in the U.s during that time period
    https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/covid-19-was-third-leading-cause-death-united-states-both-2020-2021#:~:text=Heart%20disease%20was%20the%20number,fifth%20leading%20causes%20of%20death.
    Now, to assert that there was a 3 year decline in life expectancy caused by an increase of about 28% in drug overdoses is not even close to anything any 10 grade statistics class could come close to asserting.
    But– it fits your narrative.

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