HOLYOKE — An ongoing case focused on alleged illegal gaming and illicit drug sales has snared a retired firefighter now charged with cocaine trafficking and other offenses.
David McKenna, a member of the fire department for 28 years until his retirement in 2020, is one of three defendants charged in Hampden Superior Court. The others are Griffin’s Cafe owner Sean Rohan, charged first in the group, and alleged cocaine supplier Jose Perez-Deleon, of Chicopee.
A statement of facts filed by the state Attorney General’s Office says Rohan was the head of an offshore sports betting ring with McKenna as his “agent.”
McKenna, in turn, sold cocaine more than 20 times to an undercover state trooper, while also arranging sports bets, according to the statement.
“As time went on, David McKenna indicated to the undercover trooper that he could obtain any amount of cocaine that the undercover desired — all he would have to do is make a call,“ the statement reads.
“Accordingly, the undercover began ordering larger amounts of cocaine, except instead of vials, the undercover would order ‘balls,’ which were 3.5 gram portions of cocaine,” it continues.
The alleged sales and bet occurred between 2023 and 2025, according to the AG’s office. The probe was headed by its Gaming Enforcement Division, records show, established in 2011 and bolstered after the advent of the legalization of casinos in Massachusetts.
The betting ring was run primarily out of Griffin’s, a popular Holyoke watering hole, according to investigators. The drug sales became an offshoot of that, the statement of facts suggests.
Undercover officers made 500 illegal bets over the years, the statement adds. Investigators often “settled up” the transactions in person with McKenna, sometimes foregoing greater cash payouts for drugs instead, according to the statement.
The investigation included wiretaps, pole camera surveillance and other covert policing techniques.
Contacted by The Republican after a court hearing on Thursday, a lawyer for McKenna contended the investigation was overblown.
“It is one thing for the Attorney General’s Office and their handler, the casinos, to make these allegations. Let’s see what a jury of my client’s peers here in Hampden Court have to say about this excessive prosecution,” Holyoke defense attorney A.J. O’Donald III said.
A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office could not immediately be reached on Friday.
Rohan was in May 2025 arrested and charged with illegal gaming, managing a betting enterprise and possession of fentanyl.
McKenna was later indicted by a statewide grand jury in Worcester for conspiracy to register bets; conspiracy to violate drug laws; committing an enterprise crime; money laundering; distribution of cocaine; registering bets; trafficking cocaine in the amount of 18-36 grams; and trafficking cocaine up to 100 grams.
He and his codefendants pleaded not guilty at their respective arraignments.
Perez-Deleon was charged with conspiracy and cocaine trafficking.
A pretrial conference in the case is set for June 3.