Complaint of Possible Drug Dealer Near Shelter Results in Arrest

A report Thursday night of a man possibly selling narcotics near the Open Door Shelter at 4 Merritt St. resulted in the arrest of a city man who allegedly was carrying glassine envelopes containing heroin.

Department spokeswoman Sgt. Lisa Cotto said on Tuesday officers were dispatched to the area of the shelter in South Norwalk shortly after 8 p.m. on a complaint a man may be selling narcotics, with no description of the individual provided.

An officer reported that as he drove near the shelter, a man on the sidewalk turned and started walking away after he spotted the patrol car. The officer stopped the man and began questioning him.

The officer asked the man, later identified as 57-year-old Alfred Mack, if he could search him, and Mack agreed to be patted down, Cotto said.

The officer first found Mack carrying a small, folding knife. He then, according to Cotto, pulled two packages out of Mack's pocket, each containing 10 glassine envelopes filled with a white substance.

The officer reported the substance tested positive for heroin and Mack was taken into custody.

Mack, of no known address, was charged with illegal manufacturing, distributing or selling narcotics; possession of narcotics; illegal possession of narcotics within 1,500 feet of a school; and possession or sale of narcotics within 1,500 feet of a school.

Cotto said the Columbus Magnet School on Chestnut Street is within 1,500 feet of where Mack was stopped.

Mack was held on $5,000 bond and given a court date of June 1.