Former aide to Massachusetts Gov. Healey who has been charged with trafficking cocaine is granted bail

Lance Reynolds, Boston Herald on Nov 13, 2025

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BOSTON — A Springfield judge has modified the detention status of Lamar Cook, setting cash bail for Gov. Maura Healey’s former aide, arrested and charged with cocaine trafficking, at $75,000.

Hampden Superior Court Judge William J. Ritter has also ordered Cook, 45, of Springfield, to forfeit his passport.

This comes after Cook was initially held without the right to bail after pleading guilty late last month to a charge of trafficking cocaine — roughly 18 pounds of it, worth more than $110,000 — and firearms violations.

Ritter ruled that while Cook remains a danger, new conditions for his release could be imposed to ensure the community’s safety, according to the Hampden district attorney’s office.

In a written decision, Ritter noted there was “strong evidence of sophisticated drug operations; defendant alleged to have prior drug pickups; amount of drugs show danger but defendant has no record and conditions will assure appearance and safety.”

Cook’s cash bail in connection with the firearm case has also been reduced from $25,000 to $10,000.

Cook served since 2023 as the deputy director of Healey’s western Massachusetts office until his arrest.

Authorities grew suspicious of Cook after an earlier package containing suspected cocaine was seized by authorities in Kentucky before being delivered to the Hotel UMass in Amherst, where Cook once served as hospitality director, but the cops never saw it picked up.

Police decided to send an undercover trooper to deliver the next package containing suspected cocaine, this one destined directly to Healey’s office at the State Office Building in Springfield. Cook himself received the parcel, and the police moved in to arrest him, according to the police report.

The Massachusetts State Police has denied a Boston Herald request for information on the background check conducted before Healey hired Cook. The Herald is appealing the denial through the secretary of state.

State law “exempts from public disclosure ‘personnel and medical files or information; also any other materials or data relating to a specifically named individual, the disclosure of which may constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,’” a legal representative for the State Police cited as justification for not fulfilling the request.

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