SIX ARRESTED IN ROCHESTER AS POLICE CRACK N.H.-MASS. DRUG RING

ROCHESTER Six people allegedly involved in an interstate cocaine ring
run from a Lafayette Street home were arrested Friday night including
a man already out on bail for other drug-selling charges.

Police had seized an ounce of cocaine and several thousand dollars,
pagers, cellular phones and drug paraphernalia while searching three
local residences and two vehicles.

Four men were arraigned in Rochester District Court on Saturday,
including Angel Valle, 33, who police say orchestrated the cocaine
sales from his apartment at 59A Lafayette St. while awaiting trial in
Strafford County Superior Court on felony charges of selling drugs,
robbery and witness tampering.

Valle was arrested Friday on a felony charge of selling narcotic drugs
and ordered held on $100,000 cash bail.

At the time of his arrest, Vallee was being monitored by an electronic
ankle bracelet, had weekly check-ins with the countys probation and
parole department, and was attending drug counseling sessions
regularly as part of conditions of his release on the three previous
felony charges.

While in court Saturday, Vallee argued he had adhered to the
conditions of his release. "They came to get me at my home, and I was
where I was supposed to be," he said. "Im always where Im supposed to
be. I do not even go out of my house."

However, State Police Sgt. Robert Quinn of the Narcotics Investigation
Unit maintained that, despite Vallees court-ordered bail conditions,
he continued to arrange for deliveries of cocaine from Massachusetts
to sell in the Rochester area.

"He was involved in an ongoing drug conspiracy," Quinn
said.

Two women were also arrested Friday and will be arraigned in the
district court at a later date.

Also charged in connection with the alleged drug operation
were:

q Robert Paula, 23, of 9002 Hooper Ave., Los Angeles, Calif., was
charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and ordered held on
$100,000 cash bail.

q Jose Rodriguez Cotto, 21, of 170 Bridge St., Manchester, was charged
with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and was also ordered held on
$100,000 cash bail.

q Jose Nunez, 25, of 113 High St., Lawrence, Mass., was charged with
conspiracy to distribute cocaine and ordered held on $50,000 cash bail.

q Ann Lesley Veseth, 45, of 35 Charles St., Rochester, was charged
with possession of a narcotic drug and released on $1,000 personal
recognizance bail.

q Carolan Brochu, 22, of Silver St., Rochester, was charged with
possession of a narcotic drug and released on $1,000 personal
recognizance bail.

Nunezs bail was reduced from $100,000 cash to $50,000 cash after he
argued in district court that he was "in the wrong place at the wrong
time."

"Im not on the streets looking for trouble," Nunez said. "I just came
up here to get a ride from these guys. I didn't know what was going
on."

He added that he believed he had been "unjustly" arrested. "I plan to
take this to the end, because I don't believe Ive done anything wrong,"
Nunez told the judge.

The arrests were the result of a two-month undercover investigation by
the state police and Rochester Police Department, Quinn said.

"The success of this operation depended on the mutual cooperation
between the two agencies," he added. "We may have stopped the
organization believed to be a supplier of narcotics to local residents."