A lineman at the Peabody Municipal Light Plant has pocketed about $40,000 in salary since being arrested in August on suspicion of trafficking cocaine.
Ronald D'Andrea, 50, who has worked at the light plant since 2003, has also collected health, life and retirement benefits since he was arrested and placed on paid leave months ago, according to city records.
On Aug. 23, Revere police narcotics detectives caught D'Andrea with a half-kilogram of cocaine stuffed into a Target shopping bag, according to a police report filed with Chelsea District Court. Local and state drug units had been monitoring D'Andrea and eavesdropping on his conversations while investigating "the narcotics distribution enterprise" he is alleged to have operated, the police report said.
Two days before his arrest, D'Andrea paid $20,000 for the cocaine and agreed to pick up the drugs the following Tuesday at a Ninety Nine Restaurant in Revere, according to police.
About 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 23, D'Andrea drove into the restaurant's back parking lot and got into the passenger seat of gray sedan, police said. A short time later, D'Andrea got out of the car carrying a white shopping bag, then placed the bag in the trunk of his car as police approached. When police confiscated the bag, it contained "a block of white rock/powder ... in excess of 500 grams of the Class B controlled substance, cocaine," according to the police report.
After obtaining a warrant to search D'Andrea's Saugus house, police found more than $1,500 cash, a digital scale and a handheld grinder, the police report said.
D'Andrea pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Chelsea District Court and was released on $5,000 bail. His attorney, Robert Sheketoff, declined to comment on the case specifically. He said that drug cases typically take more than a year to settle. The next scheduled court date is a probable-cause hearing slated for April 30 in Chelsea.
Shortly after D'Andrea's arrest, the Peabody Municipal Light Plant suspended the lineman without pay but then placed him on paid administrative leave in October.
When asked why D'Andrea was placed on paid leave instead of unpaid leave, Glenn Trueira, the manager of the plant, said there is no "specific policy about this," so the determination was made based on the circumstances and after consultation with the plant's attorney, Phillip Durkin. Trueira was assistant manager of the plant at the time of D'Andrea's arrest.
"What we do is look at each case separately on its own merits, what's involved and what the given details are in each case," Trueira said in an interview. "When this situation arose, I consulted with our attorney, and he looked into it."
The Municipal Light Commission was told of the D'Andrea situation but did not weigh in, said Robert Wheatley, the commission chairman.
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