Gov. Maura Healey’s deputy director for western Massachusetts allegedly worked with an accomplice in Houston, Texas, to distribute some 50,000 packets of cocaine with an estimated street value of more than $1 million into Springfield.

Prosecutor Kerry Beattie said that while many people attest to the good work LaMar Cook has done for his community, and much of that may be true, this was only one side of the man.

“It appears that he was running a double life. He was conning all these good people. He was conning his community, he was conning the governor’s office,” Beattie said during bail arguments at Springfield Superior Court on Friday morning.

“He was introducing this poison into this community,” she continued, that has wreaked havoc and destroyed lives, “and it all starts somewhere, and it started with Mr. Cook and his associates.”

The charges

Cook served as Healey’s western Massachusetts deputy director at the time he was arrested on Oct. 28 after State Police say they intercepted a package containing nearly eight kilograms, or about 18 pounds, of cocaine shipped to his office. He was ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing following his arraignment at Springfield District Court.

Cook’s case was elevated to the Superior Court level following his indictment Feb. 12 on five charges: trafficking in 200 grams or more of cocaine, conspiracy to violate drug laws — this one with an unidentified “John Doe” co-conspirator — possession of a gun without a firearms identification card, possession of ammunition without a firearms identification card, and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

He appeared for arraignment and bail arguments in Hampden Superior Court Friday morning in Springfield, just ahead of a scheduled appearance in the city by Gov. Healey.

The hearing

Cook’s attorney Kedar Ismail waived a formal reading of his client’s indictment and entered not guilty pleas on his behalf. Cook is currently held in jail on $75,000 bail established at the district court level.

During bail arguments in Superior Court, Beattie argued that $100,000 cash bail be imposed, stating that the sheer amount of cocaine trafficking alleged in the case suggests that Cook is a danger to the community. Ismail argued that Cook’s bail be set at $25,000 as there are “multiple levels” of assurance that Cook would return to court, from his “supportive and loving” family who have attended every hearing, to his deep ties and commitments to the community, and to his need to get a job and earn money to support his children.

Judge Sarah B. Hamilton did not decide on bail at the hearing meaning that Cook, wearing a dark blue suit and shackled at both wrists and ankles, would return to the county lockup until she makes her decision. His case is scheduled to return to court on April 3 for discovery motions.

New details

During bail arguments, prosecutor Beattie revealed more details in the case. While the charges stem from the roughly eight kilograms of cocaine destined for the western Massachusetts state office building, she called cocaine trafficking “an ongoing enterprise for Mr. Cook” in which he dealt with ever-larger shipments of cocaine.

She said that the seized parcel featured bricks of cocaine stamped with the word “Gold,” which she described as “a new sort of imprint or stamp” for investigators that she said linked it to other cocaine shipments seized since the start of the investigation on Oct. 8, when U.S. Homeland Security Investigations agents informed the Massachusetts State Police that they had seized in Louisville, Kentucky, a shipment of suspected cocaine bound for Massachusetts.

This shipment and others were all imprinted “Gold” and are believed to have originated in Houston, Texas, Beattie said. The shipments were intended for “Morgan Gordon” or “Gary Woods,” two fictitious names, at the UMass Hotel, where Cook had once worked as a manager, or a business entity named “Graham Tech” at an address matching that of the western Massachusetts state office building, which only contained state offices.

Beattie said that at conservative estimates of $14,000 to $15,000 for a kilogram of cocaine would have placed the value of the multiple 13-kilogram packages seized during the investigation at $185,000 each. But at street level, where the volume is expanded by cutting agents and sold in single-gram doses, such a shipment could have been valued at $650,000 each.

The Houston angle deepened when Beattie said that investigators had seized Cook’s phone and found instances of the WhatsApp communication application with only one contact, who she didn’t identify but said was a person who previously lived in Springfield and now lives in Houston. She said Cook and this person communicated on days when a shipment from Houston was expected to arrive.

She also said that investigators found a gun in Cook’s bedroom, for which neither he nor anyone else in the home possessed a firearm identification card, and a scale commonly associated with drug trafficking in Cook’s state building office, replete with residues of heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine as well as common cutting agents like caffeine.

It was this last point that drove defense attorney Ismail’s primary bail argument point that he and his client were being kept largely in the dark with evidence discovery.

“I don’t have the discovery that I need. This man deserves to have the information he needs to fight this,” Ismail said.

Ismail’s complaints on this were numerous.

“First time I am hearing of heroin and cutting agents on a scale in Mr. Cook’s office,” he said. He added later, “I thought this was a state office. And this gentleman has told me this office is like a fishbowl. So you’re telling me that he’s cutting cocaine and heroin right there in the state rep’s office?”

“Something fishy is going on here,” he said.

As for whether his client is dangerous: “You know what’s dangerous? All of these Article 14 violations.” He’s referring to Article 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, which protects against illegal searches and seizures.