West Street Drug Overdose Investigation Leads to Arrests

Three local residents are facing various charges after an incident last year concerning a heroin overdose on West Street.

Carmelito Escalera, 41, of Concord, was arrested at 1:55 p.m. on Jan. 9, on a felony possession of controlled drugs charge.

Also arrested were Kyle Mark Willette, 19, of Concord, and Natasha Lee Lamb, 19, of Concord, on felony falsifying physical evidence charges. They were arrested at 2:40 p.m. on Jan. 9.

According to arrest reports and court documents, an officer was called to an apartment building on West Street on Nov. 1, 2013, to assist the Concord Fire Department with a possible heroin overdose at the house.

Upon arrival, the officer saw Willette who motioned to the officer to come in the house where Lamb was reportedly yelling at Escalera, telling him to wake up and stay away. She was reportedly “grabbing his face” trying to get him to stay away.

Escalera was reportedly on the floor leaning against a bed “and appeared to be nodding in and out of consciousness.” The officer added that Escalera “was sweating” and “cold to the touch,” allegedly slurring his words that were sometimes not understandable.

The officer looked around and couldn’t find any evidence of heroin use. Firefighters were also looking for signs of drugs and later, transported Escalera to the hospital.

The officer went into a common bathroom and allegedly found two syringes and a blue bindle in the trash and seized the items.

The officer spoke with Lamb and Willette and they reportedly stated that they forced entry into the room to assist Escalera. Lamb was asked about why it was called in as a heroin overdose if there wasn’t paraphernalia in the room.

“I told Ms. Lamb that it appeared as though the room was cleaned up knowing that the police department and the fire department were arriving,” the officer wrote.

The officer informed them both that he found syringes and a bindle from the bathroom trash and wondered how it got there. Both allegedly denied knowledge of the evidence in the bathroom trash, the officer stated. The officer said he was still looking for paraphernalia in the room and suspected it had been removed. Lamb, according to the officer, reportedly found a spoon with cotton on it on a dresser along with an open needle and put both in a dresser drawer because she didn’t want Escalera to get into trouble.

“She told me that she thought he was clean,” the officer alleged.

Lamb went to the drawer and the items weren’t there and she reportedly stated she didn’t know where they had gone. While Lamb was talking with the officer, Willette allegedly came into the room from the kitchen with the syringe and spoon and later, a second spoon and a piece of cotton.

On Dec. 16, 2013, an arrest warrant was taken out for Willette on the felony falsifying physical evidence charge.

On Jan. 9, officers were called to a verbal disturbance on Summer Street and Community Drive and one of the people reportedly at the scene, Willette, had three electronic bench warrants out for the falsifying physical evidence charge as well as unlawful possession and receiving stolen property.

Lamb and Escalera were also arrested.

According to past reports, all three have a history of arrests during the last few years.

In August 2013, Willette was arrested after flipping out in the middle of the road on South State Street. Also that month, Escalera was arrested on a simple assault charge after a fight with his wife on West Street. He was also arrested in July on driving charges. 

In December 2012, Willette was arrested on alcohol charges on West Street.

Lamb was arrested in May 2013 on a bench warrant.

Also, the West Street address, has been a haven of alleged drug activity in the past, including a drug raid in October 2013.