Ex-Senate page held on drug, robbery charges
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By day, Rha-Shon Sheffield seemed like any other young page in the State House, delivering messages to senators' offices, fetching mail, and cleaning the chamber after legislative sessions.
But off the clock, according to police, the Mattapan teenager was a thief who toted marijuana inside his coat jacket and had ready access to gun ammunition.
Sheffield, an 18-year-old who goes by the nickname Raw, police said, was arrested Tuesday morning after a state trooper said he stopped him and two other men with marijuana, a large-capacity gun magazine, and ammunition, police reports said.
Sheffield, who earned $10 an hour as a page, was suspended without pay after the arrest. He was fired after Senate officials learned he was also wanted on a warrant for armed robbery.
"The Senate page in question has been terminated effective immediately," said David Falcone, spokesman for Senate President Therese Murray. "It's an unfortunate development, given the strong traditional significance of the Senate page program and the outstanding students who've participated throughout the years."
There are now 11 pages in the Senate, most of whom are college students. Sheffield had worked at the State House since May 2007. His hours were part time during the school year, but full time over the summer, said his lawyer, Donatos Lallos. He said his client was a student at East Boston High School.
Sheffield could not post the combined $75,000 bail for the armed robbery charge and the charges stemming from Tuesday's arrest, and he was held at Nashua Street jail, Lallos said.
Sheffield pleaded not guilty to the charges, he said.
Just after 2 a.m. on Tuesday, Sheffield was riding in the front seat of a rented white Hyundai on Boylston Street, when the driver, 23-year-old Sean Browne, allegedly made an illegal turn.
A trooper pulled over the car and searched Browne, Sheffield, and a third passenger, 25-year-old Eric Johnson. He said he found marijuana in Sheffield's jacket and a silver .38-caliber ammunition clip and 20 bullets in the trunk of the car.
Lallos said the trooper searched his client illegally.
"It was a situation where the vehicle in question was not owned by him, was not being operated by him," he said. "He was just being given a ride."
The trooper searched Sheffield and Johnson after learning they had warrants against them, according to the police report.
Sheffield showed the trooper his State House employee card, according to the police report. The trooper quickly learned that Sheffield was also wanted in the robbery of a 29-year-old Lowell man at knifepoint in the South End on Jan. 25.
According to a Boston police report, Sheffield and four other people lured their victim through the website Craigslist, where they posted an ad for a laptop computer they said they were selling for $700. The man agreed to come to the South End to buy the computer. When he arrived, a woman grabbed him by the elbow and led him inside, where he was confronted by Sheffield and three other men, police said. They allegedly pulled out knives and took his $550
Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.
