34 South Main St., Attleboro, MA - (508) 222-7000
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A sweet ride for DARE
 Detective Alex Aponte and DARE Officer Tom Wellman with new DARE car. The 1996 Land Rover was seized from a drug dealer. (Staff photo by Tom Maguire)
Top Headlines Wellman, the city's Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer, is driving around in a newly acquired and reconditioned 1996 Land Rover that a drug dealer forfeited to the police department. The sport utility vehicle has 100,000 miles on it, "but you wouldn't know it. It rides real nice," Wellman said. The interior of the vehicle had been torn apart by detectives in their search for drugs, but it was repainted and reconditioned by Chaz's Auto Body on County Street and Roberts Automotive on Pine Street, who donated their services. Pinstriping and decal work was done by Municipal Graphics and by Wellman and David Viera of the police department. The vehicle was forfeited by Antonio Tavares, 27, of Pawtucket, after he was busted in March 2006 in an undercover drug investigation led by city detectives Timothy Cook and James Cote. Also participating were detectives Russell Castro, Jeffrey Peavey, Alex Aponte, Lt. John Otrando and Sgt. Arthur Brillon. "I want to share their hard work by showing it off on the street every day," Wellman said. Wellman said he gets a lot of compliments from students, teachers and school administrators, and he tells them how the city got the vehicle. "It's poetic justice. Instead of the drugs going to the kids, it's the car going to the kids," said Detective Alex Aponte, who added that taking vehicles from drug dealers hurts their business. "It hits them where it hurts. They can lose the drugs. They can make up for the lost money," Aponte said. Drug dealers, Wellman said, "take a lot of pride in their vehicles." "They don't like to see cops driving their vehicles," Aponte added. The Land Rover is one of four cars the Attleboro police department has acquired through drug forfeitures. Other vehicles are being used in undercover investigations to bust more dealers. "I find it refreshingly ironic that a vehicle used by a drug dealer is now being used on the war against drugs," Brillon said.
Post Your Comments publius wrote on Apr 19, 2008 7:25 PM: " Hey Skeptic. The car was FREE!!!! Would you prefer they boyght a new Crown Vic? Maintenance is done by city mechanics. All they city needs are parts. " Skeptic wrote on Apr 17, 2008 10:34 AM: " I agree a Land Rover is a sweet ride. What's it going to cost in gas and maintenance? I know the city relies heavily on Ford vehicles and that Land Rover was made while Ford controlled the company, but I doubt it shares many parts with Crown Vic and Expeditions. " Harry Hindsight wrote on Apr 17, 2008 7:58 AM: " It's no differnt than in years past when the police caught kids drinking, they confiscated your beer, sent you home and when they saw your parents around town, they told them. That was worse, then you would catch a beating a week or so later when they got home. You know that beer went to their next cookout. But good for the APD, it seems like an idea way to upgrade the cruiser fleet. " or
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