FALL RIVER, Mass. — A 34-year-old man charged in a deadly Taunton crash that killed a Middleborough mother has also been indicted on numerous drug trafficking and illegal firearm charges after investigators searched a Norton home, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn said Wednesday.
Hector Bannister-Sanchez, of Medford and Norton, is being held without bail on charges of second degree murder and reckless motor vehicle homicide connected to the Nov. 7, 2022 fatal crash on Kingman Road in Taunton that killed 54-year-old Lori Ann Medeiros.
Medeiros was fatally struck in her car just moments after Bannister-Sanchez drove off at speeds topping 101 mph after police tried to pull him over for an ongoing drug trafficking investigation, police said.
Bannister-Sanchez was indicted by a Bristol County Grand Jury last week on new charges of trafficking in excess of 200 grams of a Class B drug, trafficking in excess of 100 grams of a Class B drug, trafficking in excess of 36 grams of a Class A drug, unlawful possession of a large capacity firearm and two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm with a prior felony conviction, Quinn said.
The drug trafficking and illegal firearms charges were filed after investigators executed a search warrant at a stash house in Norton, where police found approximately 750 grams of suspected cocaine, approximately 70 grams of suspected fentanyl powder, approximately 240 grams of suspected fentanyl pills, approximately 182 grams of suspected methamphetamine pills, a Glock 19 firearm with a large capacity magazine containing 11 rounds, approximately $46,130.00 in cash, paperwork for Bannister-Sanchez, drug packaging materials and drug legers and notes, Quinn said.
Bannister-Sanchez is expected to be arraigned in Fall River Superior Court on the new indictments on Feb. 22, the same day he is s scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial hearing on the charges related to the fatal Taunton crash.
On Jan. 10, Bannister-Sanchez appeared in Fall River Superior Court to face a judge on charges of second degree murder and reckless motor vehicle homicide.
During the arraignment, Assistant District Attorney Kaitlyn O’Leary said Bannister-Sanchez had been the focus of a four-month-long drug investigation prior to the fatal crash.
Investigators had obtained a court-authorized GPS for Bannister-Sanchez’s Toyota Highlander and on Nov. 7, 2022, investigators intended to stop Bannister-Sanchez as part of their probe. Investigators tracked Bannister-Sanchez as he drove to a house in Norton. Police believed he was driving to complete a drug deal with a frequent customer in Middleboro, O’Leary said.
When investigators parked behind him and approached his vehicle, demanding he show his hands, Bannister-Sanchez drove away, O’Leary said.
O’Leary told the court Bannister-Sanchez drove through a front yard, crashed into the property’s front landing, and forced a state trooper to get out of the way in order to avoid being hit. Police did not chase Bannister-Sanchez.
Bannister-Sanchez topped speeds as high as 101 mph as he drove through Middleboro, Lakeville, and ultimately into Taunton, O’Leary said.
The court-authorized GPS on his Highlander tracked his speed at 84 mph as he turned onto Kingman Street in Taunton, where he crashed into a red Ford Fusion being driven by Lori Medeiros, who was later pronounced dead at a local hospital, O’Leary said.
After the crash, a witness told police told police that Bannister-Sanchez grabbed a black backpack, which contained $16,350 in cash, from inside his Highlander and ran away from the crash scene, O’Leary said.
Police later apprehended him on South Precinct Street, prosecutors said.
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