North Adams Man Pleads Guilty to Firearm, Drug Charges

Staff Reports 11:59AM / Thursday, April 06, 2023Print Story | Email Story

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — On Wednesday, April 5 John Bump, Jr., of North Adams, pleaded guilty to Illegal Possession of a Firearm, Possession with the Intent to Distribute Heroin and Possession of Ammunition.

The charge of Illegal Possession of a Large Capacity Feeding Device was dismissed by the Commonwealth after acceptance of the plea.

According to a statement from the District Attorney's Office, in March of 2023, Det. Joshua Zustra, of the North Adams Police Department, and members of the North Adams and Adams Police departments were conducting a drug investigation of the defendant and his home in North Adams. On March 9, 2023, they observed the 31-year-old defendant leave the home with a back-pack and get into an awaiting car.

Pursuant to a search warrant, Det. Zustra stopped the car and removed Bump. A search of his person yielded $740 in cash, and 70 wax baggies that contained heroin. Detective Zustra searched the backpack that the defendant carried from the home and discovered a Ruger 9mm handgun, a magazine that contained 14 rounds of ammunition, 300 wax baggies that contained heroin and an additional $10, $290 in cash.

In determining the sentence, the Commonwealth conferred with the arresting officers and members of the Berkshire Count House of Corrections. The defendant was sentenced to a total on 3.5 years at the Berkshire County House of Correction (1 year on the Possession with Intent to Distribute of Class A and 2.5 years from and after on the Possession of a Firearm without and FID card), and ordered to complete the in-custody drug treatment program at the Berkshire County House of Correction. Upon his release, the Defendant must complete two years of probation with conditions that included continued drug treatment and counseling, no drugs with random screens and possess no weapons.

1st Assistant Marianne Shelvey represented the Commonwealth. The North Adams Police Department and the Adams Police Department investigated the case. The Berkshire County Sheriff's Department supported in sentencing determinations.

Tags: district attorney, drugs, guns,

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North Adams Becomes a Purple Heart Community

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
05:16AM / Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Veterans Service Officer Kurtis Durocher, a Purple Heart recipient, tells his own story of how he was wounded in Iraq.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — City leaders last week held a ceremony marking the city as a Purple Heart Community to honor local military service members wounded or killed in combat.

"This designation is much more than a sign that will stand at the entrances to our city," said Kurtis Durocher, Northern Berkshire veterans service officer at City Hall on Friday. "It is a lasting commitment and a promise to this community. We'll never forget the sacrifices made by those who are wounded or killed while serving our nation. It is a public declaration of the courage and sacrifices of combat wounded. Veterans will always have a place of honor here in North Adams."

As a Purple Heart Community, North Adams will place signs throughout the city acknowledging the designation. The city will also hold a ceremony every Aug. 7 on National Purple Heart Day.

During the inaugural ceremony, Durocher said he was asked by the Military Order of the Purple Heart to find a keynote speaker for the event, preferably a Purple Heart recipient. But he was unable to find someone willing to speak. With the date approaching, he decided to tell his own story.

"I don't like standing up and telling my own personal story ... But I realized, in my position as a VSO, I get so many ... children of veterans who will say, 'I didn't know anything about my father until after he passed because he just didn't talk about it,'" Durocher said. "... I have been that way until I've gotten into this position, and so, now, I try to tell my story as much as I can when it is brought to me."

Durocher served in the Army for 20 years and retired as a master sergeant. On Friday, he recalled a time early in his career while serving in the 82nd Airborne Division deploying to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. On Sept. 12, 2003, his squad was conducting a patrol on Route Irish in Baghdad. He was serving as a gunner on an LMTV when it was struck by a 155-millimeter artillery shell. He said the explosive had been hidden behind a guardrail and detonated using nothing more than a washing machine timer.

"In an instant, everything changed. The blast knocked me unconscious. When I regained consciousness, I instinctively was removing my helmet," he said. "Almost immediately my training took over. We had been taught repeatedly that attacks like this were often followed by a secondary attack or an ambush. I quickly put my helmet back on and began searching for my machine gun."

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