EX-PRISON GUARD ACCUSED OF RUNNING DRUG RING

New Bedford - Boston - A former prison guard and accused drug dealer
who liked to flaunt his ties to local police and prosecutors was
arrested by federal agents yesterday and charged with running a ring
that used phony prescriptions to obtain the powerful prescription
narcotic OxyContin.

Peter Medeiros, 36, of Oakley Street, New Bedford, was arrested with
five other city residents yesterday and arraigned in Boston's federal
court.

A seventh man, Myron Pina, was indicted yesterday but not arrested. He
is considered a fugitive, the U.S. attorney's office said yesterday.

Mr. Medeiros, who had been out on bail following an arrest by state
police and local detectives in July for cocaine trafficking, was held
in federal custody yesterday pending a bail hearing Monday.

Mr. Medeiros is a former Norfolk County correctional officer whom
local police sources describe as a well-groomed, upper-level drug
dealer whose clientele was more professional class than street level.

"He's a pretty boy," said one investigator yesterday. "His hair was
always perfect, he always had a tan, well-dressed."

He tried to cultivate friendly relations with the detectives and
prosecutors who had set their sights on him in recent years -- waving
hello to police surveillance units trailing him, hanging out in cop
bars and at political fund-raisers and chatting up local investigators
during his workouts at the local YMCA.

The image hasn't helped Mr. Medeiros stay out of court, though.
Yesterday's arrest was his second serious charge in less than a year.

Yesterday, a federal indictment was unsealed alleging Mr. Medeiros,
his wife and five others forged prescriptions for OxyContin -- a
powerful painkiller preferred by many heroin addicts -- at least 40
times in 2001, then re-sold the drug.

Mr. Medeiros was still employed as a correctional officer during that
time. He went out on disability and was terminated after his arrest in
July.

Mr. Medeiros also was charged with three federal counts of cocaine
distribution.

State police, New Bedford detectives and agents from the Drug
Enforcement Administration office in New Bedford and Worcester rounded
up the suspects yesterday morning.

Arrested yesterday were:

Joyce C. Medeiros, 29, Mr. Medeiros' wife;

Stephen Lopes, 63, of Purchase Street, a former electrician who is
charged with passing a forged prescription at least 10 times during
2001;

Douglas Lopes, 53, of Cottage Street, a former fourth-grade teacher in
Boston, the brother of Stephen Lopes, and Mr. Gay Massachusetts; he is
charged with health-care fraud for billing his insurance company for
the drug OxyContin and passing forged prescriptions at least six times.

Justin Lopes, 40, of Pleasant Street, charged with passing a fake
prescription seven times. As of last night, it was unclear what his
familial relationship to the two other Lopes men was.

Myron Pina, 34, whose listed address is City Councilor Joseph P.
Fortes' two-family Pleasant Street home. Mr. Pina is charged with
passing forged prescriptions at least three times, and billing his
insurance company for it.

Nicole Lopes, 31, of Venus Drive, charged with passing a forged
prescription at least three times and with illegally billing her
insurance company for the drug.

All the defendants face federal charges of conspiracy to possess and
distribute OxyContin, which carry a maximum 20-year prison sentence
and $1 million fine.

All but Mr. Medeiros were granted bail by Magistrate Judge Robert B.
Collings.

He faces an additional 20-year prison sentence on the federal cocaine
charges, in addition to the state cocaine case.

Prosecutor John Farley of the U.S. Attorney's Public Corruption Unit
is handling the case, but gave no further details about the
investigation yesterday.

Area law enforcement sources say yesterday's indictment was the second
run at Mr. Medeiros by federal authorities in the past year.

After the first federal investigation unraveled, members of the
Bristol Task Force, assigned to District Attorney Paul F. Walsh Jr.'s
office, did their own investigation of Mr. Medeiros' alleged
cocaine-dealing activities and arrested him following a car chase in
July.

When detectives searched his home last July, they found cocaine,
marijuana and keys to bank boxes with more than $120,000, according to
court records.

They also found prominently displayed pictures of Mr. Medeiros shaking
hands with Mr. Walsh at fund-raisers, police sources said.

Mr. Walsh called in a prosecutor from Suffolk County to shepherd the
Medeiros case through Superior Court and avoid the appearance of a
conflict of interest, Gerald FitzGerald, spokesman for Mr. Walsh, said
yesterday.

Mr. Medeiros made campaign contributions totaling a few hundred
dollars in recent years, according to Mr. FitzGerald, and has no
personal ties to the county's top prosecutor.

"If you wanted another picture, you could have had a photographer get
one of him in court, in the dock and in cuffs last year," said Mr.
FitzGerald. "The decision to target this guy was made right here, in
this office."