BOSTON — 25 Investigates is asking why the man at the center of a federal drug case was arrested and then released—just two weeks before federal agents picked him up.
Boston 25 News was in Lawrence on Monday, where federal agencies were involved in an hours-long standoff with the same man Massachusetts State Police had in custody only 16 days earlier.
Homeland Security and FBI agents surrounded a house on Roberta Lane in Lawrence with a federal arrest warrant for Luis Jose Nivar Cabral.
Cabral is suspected of trafficking fentanyl in northern Massachusetts and Maine. He has also allegedly been involved in three home invasions, and police say he is a suspected member of the notorious Trinitarios gang. Law enforcement used a battering ram and deployed flash bangs to end the standoff and arrest Cabral.
But according to a federal complaint, Cabral was already in the custody of Massachusetts State Police just two weeks before—on August 31. Troopers arrested him during a traffic stop in Lawrence for an active court warrant out of Lowell District Court.
25 Investigates dug deeper to find out why Cabral was back out on the streets.
Court records show Cabral had been in custody earlier this year at the Middlesex House of Correction in Billerica. In May, he was accused of assaulting another inmate. But that case was dismissed on August 13th under the Lavallee rule—a safeguard triggered by the ongoing public defender shortage in Massachusetts. The Lavallee rule requires cases to be dismissed if defendants do not receive counsel within a set period of time, 45 days. The shortage has already led to hundreds of dismissals across the state.
However, the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office refiled Cabral’s case, which led to the warrant that allowed State Police to arrest him again in August.
So why was he released again?
Massachusetts State Police told 25 Investigates that a bail clerk released Cabral on personal recognizance within days of his August 31st arrest. Court records show that release happened on September 2nd.
The Massachusetts Trial Court declined to comment on Cabral’s pending case but pointed us back to the Lavallee rule.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office also declined to comment, citing their ongoing case against Cabral.
In August, Governor Healy approved a $20 an hour pay raise for public defenders. But the bar advocates are pushing for a $35 hourly pay boost. And so the work stoppage persists.
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