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5 veterans face drug charges

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February 03, 2012|By Amanda Cedrone

Five veterans were arrested and charged in federal court yesterday with distributing drugs on the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital campus in Bedford, officials said.

David DeJesus, 51, Scott Houtchens, 49; and Steven Jakaitis, 49, all of Lowell; David Porterfield, 44, of Saugus; and David Robson, 52, of Tewksbury were charged with distributing controlled substances and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, the US attorney’s office said yesterday.

The hospital provides services such as alcohol and drug-addiction rehabilitation to veterans of the armed forces.

US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz’s office said that the men sold heroin, oxycodone, buprenorphine, and clonazepam on the hospital’s campus, where they were patients. In some instances, the men were selling drugs that had been prescribed to them by professionals at the medical center, Ortiz’s office said.

Officials at the US attorney’s office and the medical center said they could not comment on the incident because it is an ongoing investigation.

“Veterans Affairs has a zero tolerance policy for illegal activity,’’ Kristin Pressly, spokeswoman for the hospital, said in an e-mail.

The defendants were not arraigned yesterday. Porterfield and DeJesus were held and will have detention hearings today. Jakaitis and Houtchens are being held until their detention hearings on Feb. 10, and Robson was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond in the custody of his sister due to medical concerns, said Christina DiIorio Sterling, spokeswoman for the US attorney’s office. He must report to court today to continue his hearing.