A Chips Ahoy cookie box full of crack cocaine led to a drug dealer’s seven-year state prison sentence, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

DEMETRIUS ENNIS (D.O.B. 1/4/82) pleaded guilty on Nov. 17 as his trial was set to begin in Suffolk Superior Court. Ennis admitted to trafficking in more than 28 grams of a Class B substance; Judge Regina Quinlan yesterday sentenced him to a term of five to seven years at the Massachusetts Correctional Institute at Cedar Junction.

Had the case proceeded to trial, Assistant District Attorney Brian Fahy would have introduced evidence and testimony to show that Ennis tossed a cookie box containing 83 grams of crack cocaine onto the back porch of 42 Julian St. as a Boston Police drug control unit closed in on the residence.

Boston Police were investigating drug activity in that area on Feb. 22, 2005, and interdicted a crack cocaine sale. After developing information that a supply of crack cocaine was being kept in the third floor apartment at 42 Julian St., the officers knocked on the door, announced their office, and were granted entry by a resident.

Three residents told the officers that no one else was present, but the officers heard a sound coming from the rear bedroom. Conducting a protective sweep to ensure their safety, the officers found Ennis breathing heavily, beginning to sit down, and pretending to speak on the phone. A doorway from the bedroom to a back hallway led outside to a porch; the officers looked on the porch and observed a cardboard Chips Ahoy box devoid of cookies that was on top of recent snow.

The cookie box was consistent with a sealed plastic package of chocolate chip cookies recovered in the bedroom where Ennis was found. Moreover, it was dry to the touch, as if it had been in the snow for only a short time. Inside were two large rocks of crack cocaine. Based on all the evidence, Fahy was prepared to prove that Ennis heard the police arriving, took the cookies from the Chips Ahoy box, put the crack rocks inside, and tossed the box onto the porch before returning to the bedroom.

Also recovered within the bedroom were several personal papers belonging to Ennis, several loose pieces of crack cocaine, and more than $1,000 cash.

Ennis was represented by attorney Gordon Spencer.