WOONSOCKET – A North Smithfield man who’s already served time at the state prison four times on drug trafficking charges is behind bars again after police reportedly caught him with more than 20 grams of crack cocaine after a motor vehicle stop on Tuesday, Oct. 7.
Jason A. Lennox, 39, of 18 Cynthia Drive – just over the Woonsocket line – was charged with one count of third-plus offense possession with the intent to deliver a controlled substance, and subsequently ordered held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutions. He was also charged as a probation violator on a 2023 conviction of possessing narcotics with the intent to deliver, according to the judiciary’s web site.
Police reports say Lennox was arrested after multiple complaints about suspected narcotics activity around the 700 block of Fairmount Street over the span of several weeks, dating back to September. After monitoring the area, a member of the undercover Vice Unit took note of a black Honda registered to Lennox traveling back and forth to the area for short periods of time.
Shortly before 12:20 p.m. on Oct. 7, the vice officer reported seeing the vehicle make a pit stop at a home on Fairmount Street, and uniformed officers stopped the vehicle a short time later on Sunnyside Avenue.
Officers reportedly observed a box of baking soda – a common cutting agent for cocaine – and a number of glassine baggies that appeared to have white drug residue on them inside the passenger door.
After removing Lennox from the vehicle and searching him, police found 20.8 grams of crack cocaine in his possession.
From the interior of the vehicle, officers also seized the baking soda, the glassine bag, a water pipe and some or steel wool – which is typically compacted into a crack pipe as a filter. In a satchel located the back seat area of the Honda, police also found a pair of brass knuckles, which were also confiscated as evidence.
According to the judiciary’s website, Lennox has been arrested at least a half-dozen times on drug-trafficking charges since 2001.
The state Department of Corrections’ records say Lennox has served four sentences, ranging from 90 days to two years, after drug trafficking convictions that occurred between 2014 and 2022. His last sentence – and the longest – expired on Nov. 26, 2022, according to the DOC.
Lennox was adjudicated on 2023 charges of possession with the intent to deliver narcotics lodged against him by the Woonsocket Police Department just a couple of months after his last sentence expired. Despite his history, he didn’t receive jail time for that offense, but was given a four-year suspended sentence, with the equivalent time on probation.
After his arrest on the new charges, he was deemed to be in violation of that sentence and was ordered to appear for a hearing in Superior Court on Wednesday, Oct. 15.
