Darien police charged a 67-year-old man living around the corner from Middlesex Middle School with selling opioid prescription pills and marijuana after an investigation and an undercover drug buy, police said.
Benjamin Bruno Jr. of 10 Henry St. (see map, below) was arrested outside his home on Wednesday and posted a $5,500 bond, police said.
Photo from Darien PD
Arrest photo of Benjamin Bruno Jr. of Darien on Nov. 8, on charges of selling prescription opiates and marijuana
Darien police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:
Over the past two weeks, police detectives and the department’s Selective Enforcement Unit investigated Bruno after getting a tip that he was selling prescription narcotics out of his home.
Police determined he was selling large amounts of Oxycodone, a prescription opioid, and police conducted an undercover drug buy of some of it at the house with the help of the Stamford Police Department’s Narcotics and Organized Crime Unit.
Especially since Bruno was accused of selling drugs so close to the middle school, police quickly applied for an arrest warrant and search of the home.
A judge granted it, and on Wednesday, police watched the house and arrested Bruno at 12:30 p.m. when he went outside to a neighbor’s driveway.
He was arrested “without incident,” police said. (That usually means he didn’t struggle or try to get away.)
Police then searched the house, finding more than 75 pills of Oxycodone and Oxycontin, more than an ounce of marijuana, along with packaging material and equipment that led police to believe Bruno was also selling marijuana.
Bruno was charged with two counts of selling a controlled substance, two counts of sale of a controlled substance within 1,500 feet of a school; possession of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana with intent to sell.
Bruno is scheduled to appear in Nov. 20 in state Superior Court in Stamford.
Police said no further information is being released at this time.