Christian Santos, age 23, of 187 Searles Road, Nashua

By DEAN SHALHOUP

Senior Staff Writer

NASHUA – Caught by police while allegedly carrying a quantity of marijuana late last week, Searles Road resident Christian Santos is facing charges accusing him of possessing, with the intent to distribute, marijuana and butane hash oil, according to police.

The arrest of Santos on Thursday makes the second time within about three weeks he’s been taken into custody on felony charges.

Santos, who turns 24 this week and is a resident of 187 Searles Road, was arrested late the night of July 26 for allegedly pointing a laser-equipped, loaded Glock 20 handgun at two police officers, who had just arrived to investigate a citizen report of a man with a gun walking through the Canterbury Apartments complex.

Santos, charged in that case with two counts of criminal threatening and one count of falsifying physical evidence, Class B felonies, and two misdemeanor counts of conduct involving laser pointing devices, was ordered held on preventive detention at his arraignment and bail hearing the following day.

But according to documents in Santos’s case file, it appears that a Superior Court judge granted the expedited motion Santos filed requesting that his bail be amended to personal recognizance.

It also appears the judge granted the motion on Aug. 13, just hours before police arrested Santos on the drug-sales charges, which took place at 8:44 p.m., according to police reports.

Either way, Santos, at his arraignment and bail hearing Friday, was ordered held on preventive detention pending his next court appearance, which according to his case summary is a dispositional conference scheduled for Oct. 7.

The new set of charges include one count each of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and possession of butane hash oil with intent to distribute, special felonies, along with one count each of possession of marijuana and possession of a THC infused product, both of which are violation-level offenses.

According to police reports, a detective familiar with Santos’s use of social media struck up an online conversation with Santos the evening of Aug. 13, and eventually arranged with Santos to purchase a half-ounce of marijuana from him for $80.

The two agreed to meet on Conant Road, not far from Santos’s residence, police said. Another detective conducting visual surveillance of the area watched Santos leave his residence and walk toward Conant Road, police said.

As he approached the detective on Conant Road, other detectives appeared and once they confirmed Santos’s identity, they searched him, allegedly discovered a half-ounce of marijuana on him, and took him into custody, police said.

They then sought, and received, a search warrant for Santos’s residence, where they located “a quantity of green vegetative matter consistent with marijuana littered within Santos’s bedroom,” the reports state.

They also said they located a “THC-infused Glo-brand cart” (cartridge), a quantity of butane hash oil, scales and glassine baggies, police said.

Following booking on the charges, police said Santos agreed to speak to detectives and “made full admissions to agreeing to sell” the half-ounce of marijuana, and “acknowledged he had various marijuana derivatives within his bedroom.”

Meanwhile, police urge anyone with any information concerning illegal drug activity in Nashua to call the department’s Narcotics Hotline at 594-3597 or go to www.nashuapd.com.

Questions can be directed to Narcotics Intelligence Division Lt. Robert Page at 594-3591, or Sgt. Michael Welch at 594-3582.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

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