MANSFIELD — An unpaid college student intern at the police department who is studying criminal justice found himself in front of a judge Tuesday after being busted on drug charges.
Thomas Hemmendinger, 21, pleaded innocent in Attleboro District Court to conspiracy to violate narcotics laws, distributing marijuana and two related drug possession charges, according to court records.
The 2020 Mansfield High School graduate, who lives at 15 Frederic Lane, is free on his own recognizance.
The police department severed their relationship with Hemmendinger after he and another man were arrested Monday afternoon, Acting Deputy Police Chief Frank Archer said.
The other defendant, Matthew Hottleman, 22, of 15 Lincoln Road, in Mansfield, also appeared in court but his arraignment was postponed until July 14 when he is expected to return with a lawyer.
Hottleman, a 2019 Mansfield High School graduate, is free on $250 bail and faces charges of conspiracy to violate drug laws and distributing marijuana.
For at least 10 years, the police department has had an internship program for college and high school students who have an interest in law enforcement and criminal justice, Archer said.
The students have come from Merrimack College in Andover, Stonehill College in Easton, Curry College in Milton and Mass Maritime in Bourne.
“We’ve had a long and successful program. This was a poor decision by a promising young man,” Archer said.
The suspects were seen Monday in a car in a parking lot where state and local police were conducting surveillance of the Mansfield Convenience store at 214 Rumford Ave. in an unrelated investigation, according to police.
A plainclothes trooper allegedly saw Hottleman, who was in the driver’s seat of Hemmendinger’s car, make an exchange with another man standing outside the vehicle, according to the report.
Local detectives followed the car as it drove off and stopped in a parking lot at Fulton’s Pond, where Hottleman and Hemmendinger were arrested about 2:50 p.m., according to the report.
The other individual has not been charged yet but police say the incident remains under investigation.
In Hemmendinger’s car, police say they found a mason jar inside a backpack that contained psilocybin mushrooms, several bags of alleged marijuana and bag containing an unidentified pill.
Hemmendinger’s lawyer did not immediately return a phone call and an email for comment. Hottleman could not be reached for comment.
On Monday afternoon, police executed a search warrant at Mansfield Convenience after a months-long investigation into the alleged unlicensed sale of marijuana and vape products to adults and juveniles, according to a statement released Tuesday by police.
In the statement, Archer said police have received numerous complaints from the public about the alleged unlicensed sales.
The store remains open for business and a man, who said he was the owner but would not give his name, told The Sun Chronicle Tuesday that the allegations are untrue.
“That’s people talking. People can say whatever they want. I don’t know what they have for proof,” he said.
The search warrant was executed by local detectives, members of the Massachusetts State Police Illegal Tobacco Task Force and agents with the state Department of Revenue and the Massachusetts Lottery Commission.
The search warrant was obtained after local detectives developed probable cause that the store was selling flavored tobacco products, THC vapes, edibles and marijuana without a license, according to Archer.
The deputy police chief said the investigation is continuing and charges are expected against several individuals.
David Linton may be reached at 508-236-0338.
