SPRINGFIELD - A judge denied prosecutors’ request to find a pair of alleged drug traffickers “dangerous” one week after a raid in the city’s Pine Point neighborhood by a State Police task force.
Instead, District Court Judge Robert T. Santaniello set bail for Ernest Fickling at $25,000 and bond for Cassandra Wilder at $5,000. Prosecutors asked for a so-called dangerousness hearing, which would enable them to hold the defendants behind bars for 120 days on the premise they are too dangerous to remain in the community.
Alternatively, Hampden Assistant District Attorney Todd G. Hobbs asked that Santaniello hold each defendant in lieu of $500,000 cash bail.
Investigators with the Commonwealth Interstate Narcotics Reduction Enforcement Teams recovered two kilograms of crystal “rock” methamphetamine, ecstasy, fentanyl and a synthetic drug called “bath salts,” other drugs and a loaded gun with an extended magazine at a second-floor unit at 1482 State St. on Aug. 1.
Fickling - who became a target of a yearlong investigation into methamphetamine becoming more common in Greater Springfield - was arrested as he walked outside to get into his BMW, police have said. Wilder was inside the apartment when police executed a search warrant, according to court documents.
The 41-year-old Fickling faces charges of: possession of a large-capacity firearm during commission of a felony; possession of a large-capacity weapon/feeding device; illegal possession of ammunition; trafficking in methamphetamine and fentanyl; possession of ecstasy pills with intent to distribute; possession of oxycodone pills with intent to distribute; possession of marijuana with intent to distribute; and possession of “bath salts,” a central nervous stimulant with similar effects to cocaine, methamphetamine and ecstasy.
Wilder, 34, is charged with possession of a large-capacity firearm during commission of a felony, possession of a large-capacity weapon/feeding device, illegal possession of ammunition, trafficking in methamphetamine and cocaine and possession of ecstasy pills with intent to distribute.
Both denied the charges at their arraignments last week but were detained without bail pending the outcome of the dangerousness hearing.
Wilder’s lawyer, Michelle Dame, told Santaniello her client did not live at the apartment, had no personal belongings there and was not the target of the investigation. Moreover, the defense attorney said Wilder works two jobs and is preparing to go to nursing school in the fall.
“There weren’t even any items of Ms. Wilder’s clothing in the apartment,” Dame argued, asking that her client be released without having to post bail.
Santaniello imposed bail nonetheless. “There are serious charges,” the judge said.
Fickling’s attorney, Daniel D. Kelly, argued that his client’s criminal convictions were more than two decades ago and that $500,000 was an unreasonably high bail to request. Instead, he asked that bail be set at $15,000.
“His last name is Fickling. It’s not Rockefeller. It’s not Picknelly,” Kelly told Santaniello, adding that family members who showed up in court were going to help him cobble together the bail.
A pretrial hearing in the case is set for Sept. 7.
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