After 21 years, drug suspect arraigned -- again

After 21 years, drug suspect arraigned -- again
March 13, 2009 05:22 PM

Booking photos of Elias Efremidis from 1988 and from his recent arrest.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

A 52-year-old man who allegedly avoided drug trafficking charges in Massachusetts for 21 years by living a quiet life in rural Virginia was ordered held on $500,000 cash bail today after his arraignment in Suffolk Superior Court, prosecutors said.

Elias Efremidis, who most recently lived in Front Royal, Va., was brought back to Boston on Thursday to face the 1988 charges, the Suffolk district attorney's office said..

Efremidis's life on the lam ended recently when he shone a laser pointer at police in Virginia, police said. As officers prepared to charge him for that offense, they realized his true identity and contacted Suffolk prosecutors, law enforcement officials said.

Efremidis was arrested Feb. 26, 1988, at the Susse Chalet on Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester. Police said that cocaine, a scale, a beeper, and more than $3,900 in cash were found in his hotel room. Efremidis posted bail after his arraignment, then failed to show up for his next hearing and could not be found afterward.

Efremidis's attorney, John Valerio of Andover, said he had not yet had time to study the case.

"We just got the police reports and other information and only had a brief opportunity to meet with our client. ... Frankly, I just don't have all the information," he said.

Paul H. Thomson, Efremidis's Virginia attorney, said last week that Efremidis was a friendly, well respected restaurateur.

"I just hope the authorities in Boston take into account that he was a good father and provider here and paid his taxes and everything else," said Thomson, who formerly served as district attorney from the nearby city of Winchester.

Front Royal is a community of about 15,000 people, 70 miles west of Washington, D.C.
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