Charging Documents: SWAT raid at Hampden house yields drugs and assault-style rifles
BALTIMORE -- Investigators on a mission to find evidence of a deadly crime uncovered guns and drugs inside a house in the heart of Hampden.
They made the discovery at a home in the 1100 block of West 37th Street after a SWAT team showed up with a signed search and seizure warrant around 4:30 a.m. on Oct. 6, according to charging documents.
They removed two men from the location: 38-year-old Richard Ness and 34-year-old Matthew Williston, per court records.
The SWAT team told investigators that they noticed upon entering the home two assault-style rifles—a hi-point pistol 995 9mm firearm and a Smith & Wesson M&P15-22 firearm—in "plain view in the living room behind the couch," according to charging documents.
Investigators allege that they found various cartridges, too.
Williston said the weapons belonged to him, per court records.
He and Ness said they had been sleeping in the living room when police arrived at the house. Upon searching that room, detectives found a clear bag containing crack cocaine, a black scale with residue on it, and a zip-lock bag with the word "Gelato" containing suspected marijuana, according to charging documents.
Investigators noted that none of the recovered firearms were registered or stolen.
In the basement of the house, SWAT members discovered a large amount of "suspected" controlled dangerous substance "in plain view," per court records.
They found in the basement bags dozens of plastic bags with suspected heroin/fentanyl and suspected crack cocaine, according to charging documents. Additionally, they found three clear jugs and a gray bottle with suspected crack cocaine inside.
There were also multiple bags containing plant-lie material labeled with words like "Zandy Land," "Black Cherry," "Fanta Pop," and "Goat Mix," per court records.
Investigators noted that there were various types of packaging material, a sifter, and a spoon in the basement, too.
"Based on your writer's training, knowledge, and expertise the amount of CDS, and CDS manufacturing material located in the basement bedroom is inquisitive of CDS being manufactured, packaged and possessed with the intent to distribute," the charging documents state.
Overall, the recovered controlled dangerous substances weighed upwards of 300 grams. There were 215 grams of a suspected heroin/fentanyl mix and 110 grams of suspected crack cocaine, per court records.
Ness and Williston said they used to sleep in the basement but someone else had begun to rent the space, and they did not know his name, according to charging documents.
Court records show that the two men are now facing a myriad of drug charges and gun charges. Charging documents allege that there were "sufficient circumstances" present "to constitute a nexus to the drug trafficking."
