News

Mass. Paramedic Trainee Faces Drug, Weapons Charges

George Brennan

03/07/2014

March 07--A 26-year-old Forestdale man, who had been working as an unpaid trainee to become a licensed paramedic with the Brewster Fire Department, was arraigned on multiple drug and weapons charges today, police said.

Jaime L. Clarke, of Forestdale and Dennis was arrested at 5:30 p.m. yesterday after Sandwich Police, members of the Cape Cod Drug Task Force and the Barnstable County Sheriff's K-9 unit executed a search warrant at his 36 Arnold Road address.

The warrant was the culmination of a lengthy investigation, police said.

Inside the house, police seized more than $11,000 in cash, approximately a quarter-pound of marijuana, an undetermined amount of hashish, packaging materials, two handguns, three rifles, one shotgun and packaging materials, police said in a press release.

Clarke is being charged distribution of a Class D substance, distribution of a Class D substance with intent to distribute, possession of a Class C substance, conspiracy to violate the drug laws, improper storage of a firearm and unlawful possession of a firearm. He was held in lieu of $10,000 cash bail.

Police also executed a search warrant at 432 Old Chatham Road, Unit 408, in Dennis where they seized several vials of steroids, suboxone and various prescription pills, three boxes of handgun ammunition and a small amount of marijuana, police said. Charges will also be filed in connection with that warrant, police said.

"This is a surprise," Brewster Fire Chief Robert Moran said this morning. "This is the first I'm hearing about this."

Within 15 minutes, Moran called the Times back to say that as a result of the allegations, Clarke would no longer be sponsored in the Barnstable Fire Academy and would no longer have any affiliation with the Brewster Fire Department.

"Of course, I'm disappointed," Moran said. "We have zero tolerance for this type of thing."

Clarke was one of 10 people working with a private contractor to get his certification as a paramedic to become a call firefighter, Moran said. He was not yet an employee of the Brewster Fire Department, but was in the fire academy and was doing ride-alongs with paramedics as part of his training, the chief said. "It's common practice across the Cape," he said

The department did not have to pay to sponsor Clarke at the academy, Moran said.

Before his arrest in Sandwich, police stopped a 30-year-old man and a 43-year-old woman, both from Falmouth, leaving the residence. Their names were not released, but they are being summonsed to court on drug charges, the release states.

A 58-year-old Forestdale man who also lives at the Arnold Road address is being summonsed to court on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition, police said. His name was not released.