Reporters Dugan Arnett and Andrew Ryan are back in court to learn the fate of a case that has spanned eight years. In 2017, New Bedford police accused Steven Ortiz of being at the center of a major drug trafficking ring. But an officer involved in his arrest was sleeping with Ortiz’s fiancee while using her as an unwitting confidential informant. This case was what first brought Arnett to New Bedford. In the two years since he broke the story, one drug trafficking case has already been tossed. Now, an even bigger case hangs in the balance. And the outcome could bring a reckoning for police and prosecutors.

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