Indicted ex-aide to Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey due in court Wednesday for pre-trial hearing

Tim Dunn, Boston Herald on Jul 21, 2026

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BOSTON — Fresh off his taxpayer-funded vacation to Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, Gov. Maura Healey’s ex-Western Massachusetts deputy, currently facing an indictment on several gun and drug charges, is due in Hampden County Superior Court on Wednesday for a pretrial hearing.

LaMar Cook was arrested in October after State Police say they intercepted a package containing nearly eight kilograms, or about 18 pounds, of cocaine shipped to his office in Springfield. He was originally ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing following his arraignment at Springfield District Court. Cook was serving as Healey’s Western Mass. deputy director at the time of his arrest.

His case was elevated to the Superior Court following his indictment Feb. 12 on five charges: trafficking in 200 grams or more of cocaine, conspiracy to violate drug laws, possession of a gun without a firearms identification card, possession of ammunition without a firearms identification card, and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

Prosecutors say Cook allegedly worked with an accomplice in Houston, Texas, to distribute roughly 50,000 packets of cocaine with an estimated street value of more than $1 million into Springfield.

Healey immediately fired Cook upon his arrest, calling the allegations against him “a major breach of public trust” and “unacceptable.”

Cook, who will be arriving home fresh off a vacation to Walt Disney World in Florida, was given lax conditions of release by a Healey-appointed judge.

Hampden County Superior Court Judge Sarah Hamilton lowered Cook’s bail from $75,000 to $25,000, which he posted through a surety payment back in March, ordering that Cook only surrender his U.S. passport and all passport I.D. cards to the court before his release and to obey all federal, state and local laws, according to an Order for Pretrial Conditions of Release form obtained by the Herald.

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