BOSTON, April 22, 2013—A Charlestown man was held on high bail on 30 separate counts last week after a lengthy investigation that turned up drugs and a firearm stolen from a courthouse evidence locker, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

MELVIN JONES (D.O.B. 2/24/74) of Charlestown was arraigned April 16 in Charlestown District Court on four separate dockets charging him with unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, improper storage of a firearm, receiving stolen property, and 12 drug charges related to the distribution or possession with intent to distribute Class A, Class B, Class D, and Class E substances.

He is also charged with 11 school zone violations for allegedly committing these offenses in close proximity to a playground and the Harvard Kent Elementary School.  Judge Lawrence McCormick set bail at a total of $120,000 across four dockets.

Assistant District Attorney Sheila Lawn told the court that, during the course of a month-long investigation, undercover officers from the Boston Police Department’s Drug Control Unit purchased four plastic baggies of crack cocaine from Jones on April 2 and another three baggies of crack cocaine and one baggie of heroin on April 8.

When a search warrant was executed at the apartment, prosecutors said, officers discovered a black Norinco 9 mm semiautomatic pistol with two rounds in the magazine, one in the chamber, and the safety mechanism off.  Investigators have determined that the weapon was one of three firearms stolen from Chelsea District Court in 2011, prosecutors said.

The firearm was discovered to be missing after the 2009 trial in which it was evidence, so the prosecution in that matter was not affected by its theft. The means by which Jones gained access to it remain under investigation.

Also found in the apartment were more than 100 pills – including Suboxone, Neurontin, Mintzapine, Gabapentin, and Quetiapine – nearly 300 rounds of ammunition, a starter pistol, two digital scales, and a box of plastic baggies, prosecutors said.

Jones is represented by Albert Cohen.  He will return to court on May 15.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.