Public safety report: Waltham man arrested following liquor store drug deal

Police arrested a Waltham man this week following an alleged hand-to-hand drug deal in a Moody Street liquor store.

According to police, an officer noticed 68-year-old Mark Springstead of Waltham standing outside the 7/11 at 591 Moody St. at around 4:00 p.m. on Feb. 15. The officer reportedly knew Springstead from previous interactions. 

While observing Springstead, the officer noticed a red sedan pull into a parking spot nearby. A woman exited the back seat, and both she and Sprinstead entered nearby Moody Street Liquors at 599 Moody St. After about a minute or so, Springstead exited the store without having bought anything. The woman exited soon after. Police reports said the officer suspected a hand-to-hand drug exchange had taken place.

The officer observed Springstead failing to stop at a stop sign after leaving the liquor store on his moped, which resulted in the officer performing a traffic stop. During the traffic stop, Springstead was unable to produce a valid driver’s license. When asked if he had any drugs on his person, Sprinstead said he did not and ultimately consented to a search of himself and his moped. 

Police officials said the officer located a small bag of crack cocaine on Springstead’s person during the search and said Springstead told the officer he had purchased it from the woman in the liquor store. 

Springstead was arrested and charged with possession of a class B substance, which is a subsequent offense due to the fact that Springstead had previously been found guilty of the same charge.

A summary of other police and fire activity from Feb. 10 to Feb. 16 is as follows:

On Feb. 10 at 5:23 p.m., police responded to reports of a suspicious incident on Rose Hill Way. The reporting party received a tax document in the mail from a company that the party wasn’t employed at. Police advised the party to contact the IRS regarding the form.

On Feb. 12 at 8:54 a.m., police responded to a call from a Main Street resident who had received a voicemail stating that the resident would face court action if the resident didn’t acknowledge receipt of a set of legal documents. The resident wasn’t involved in any legal issues at the time, leading police to confirm it was an attempted scam.

On Feb. 13 at 7:02 p.m., police responded to a report that a motor vehicle hit a pedestrian at the corner of Grant and Main streets. The motor vehicle was making a left turn onto Grant Street when it struck the pedestrian, who was in a crosswalk. The pedestrian was evaluated by emergency medical services for a minor wrist injury and declined to be transported to a local hospital. The operator of the motor vehicle was issued a citation for failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

On Feb. 15 at 6:12 p.m., police responded to a woman reporting an assault at a multifamily dwelling on Lexington Street. The woman said a neighbor had knocked on her door to give her a teddy bear as a gift. The woman said she declined the gift and turned to walk back into the residence when the neighbor grabbed her arm. Police said they spoke to the neighbor, who said he was giving the woman a gift to thank her for helping out around the housing complex. He denied grabbing her arm. Police advised the woman on how to file a complaint against the neighbor if she so chose.

On Feb. 16 at 3:24 p.m., police responded to reports of destruction of property that had occurred at the corner of Lexington and Lincoln streets. A man reported that he was driving when he heard a loud noise, which turned out to be the back window of his vehicle shattering. He said he had seen a group of kids on the sidewalk near where the incident happened but was unsure whether any of them had thrown something at his car. Upon arriving home, the man saw a baseball-sized chunk of ice in the car’s cargo area. The man was unable to give a description of the kids to police, who have no suspects at this time.

All information was obtained from spokespeople with the Waltham Police and Fire departments,the publicly available police blotter and police reports available at Waltham District Court.