Lawyer describes emerging friendship
Says Kaczur took alleged dealer on shopping trip
New England Patriots offensive lineman Nicholas Kaczur was so friendly with a man accused of illegally supplying him with prescription painkillers that he took him on a shopping trip for sports gear at Reebok's company headquarters in Canton, a defense lawyer says.
The 315-pound right tackle boasted that he was allotted a certain amount of free merchandise at the Reebok store, then invited the accused drug dealer, 35-year-old Daniel Ekasala, to pick out some Patriots clothing for himself, said Ekasala's lawyer, Bernard Grossberg of Boston.
"He was trying to give him Patriots-type clothes, and Ekasala wasn't interested," said Grossberg, adding that his client finally agreed to accept a black Reebok sweatshirt and that Kaczur then insisted he also take a Red Sox baseball cap emblazoned with the name of slugger David "Big Papi" Ortiz.
"I think that was a tactic by Kaczur to give him things," said Grossberg, who has described his client as a reluctant participant who was lured into dealing with Kaczur because he was "somewhat enamored" of being associated with the football player.
"From my perspective, that was a method to impress Danny with being able to give him athletic-related stuff," Grossberg said.
"It's a message that Kaczur was this Patriot who could walk in and get stuff and not pay for it. He had perks as a Patriot."
The shopping trip occurred at least several months ago when Kaczur asked Ekasala to meet him at the corporate headquarters, had him sign in at a guard shack, and then escorted him into the store, Grossberg said.
The defense lawyer said he is also investigating whether text messages between Kaczur and Ekasala will show that the football player offered to bring memorabilia from this year's Super Bowl in Arizona back to Boston for Ekasala.
Kaczur's lawyer, Steven J. Comen of Boston, declined to talk about any of the allegations.
"Out of respect for the ongoing legal process, we cannot comment at this time," he said.
Kaczur, 28, who was drafted by the Patriots in the third round in 2005, was arrested on the morning of April 27 by New York State Police who stopped him for speeding and discovered a small amount of OxyContin in his car. Kaczur did not have a prescription and was charged with misdemeanor criminal possession of a controlled substance, according to State Police.
Shortly after his arrest, Kaczur secretly cooperated with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and wore a hidden recording device on his body while buying drugs on three separate occasions last month during a sting operation that led to Ekasala's arrest, said Grossberg and two people briefed on the investigation.
The operation is detailed in a DEA affidavit, which makes reference to an unnamed cooperating witness who has been identified as Kaczur by Grossberg and the two people briefed on the investigation.
In DEA documents turned over to the defense, Kaczur said that he had begun buying OxyContin in November 2007 and purchased 100 pills every few days, paying tens of thousands of dollars over time.
Ekasala, who was arrested last month, pleaded not guilty earlier this week to three counts of possession of oxycodone, the main ingredient in OxyContin, with intent to distribute.
Ekasala, of Saugus, is currently unemployed, but six years ago worked as a legislative aide for state Senator Anthony Petruccelli, an East Boston Democrat who was then a state representative.
Petruccelli said last night that he has known Ekasala since the second grade, when both were growing up in East Boston. He described him as respected, professional, and well-liked during his years on Beacon Hill.
Petruccelli said that after being elected to the House of Representatives in 1999, Ekasala came to work for him as a legislative aide, then left in 2002 to take a higher-paying job managing a fitness center.
"It was time for him to go," the senator said of Ekasala. "There wasn't anything wrong. He left on good terms."
Petruccelli said he hoped that Ekasala, his wife, and family get the right help "to move them through these difficult times." 