Somersworth man nabbed after police find drugs, cash inside hotel room

Justin Brito (Dover Police photo)

DOVER - Police arrested a Somersworth man on drug trafficking charges on Thursday after finding drugs and cash inside his Dover hotel room.

Justin Brito, 22, was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled drug with the intent to distribute, a class A felony that carries up to a 15-year prison sentence.

Dover Police first contacted Brito at the Comfort Inn Hotel at 10 Hotel Drive in Dover around 8:30 p.m. after a patrol officer observed him engaged in what appeared to be drug-related activity.

Upon further investigation by the patrol officer and Special Investigations Unit detectives, a search was conducted in the hotel room rented by Brito. Inside the room, investigators located and seized approximately 37 grams of heroin, multiple individually packaged bags of marijuana and $4,600 in cash.

Brito also had an arrest warrant issued from the Strafford County Superior Court for violating bail conditions ordered upon him after his January arrest in Somersworth for felony violations of the state's controlled drug laws.

Brito refused bail and was held at the Strafford County House of Corrections. He was arraigned in the Strafford County Superior Court on Thursday and ordered to be held in preventative detention.

The investigation was aided by detectives from the Strafford County Sheriff's Office and the University of New Hampshire Police Department as part of Operation Granite Shield.

Anyone with drug related information is asked to call the Dover Police Department at 603-742-4646. Anonymous tips may be called into the Dover Crimeline at 603-749-6000 or via www.dovernhcrimeline.org.