Editor’s note: This article is by Edward Damon, of the Berkshire Eagle. It was first published in the Bennington Banner on Oct. 20, 2015.
MANCHESTER — The management of a local restaurant says they were stunned to hear that a drug bust involving federal agents, which resulted in the arrest of a Guatemalan man for trafficking 88 pounds of heroin, took place outside of their Main Street business earlier this month. Cassidy Warren, who owns the Mexican restaurant Cilantro with his wife Brenna, said that as of Monday afternoon, he had not been contacted by any law enforcement about the incident. He also said he was worried that the restaurant name being mentioned in news reports could hurt the business.
“We didn’t even know it happened until we saw it in the newspaper,” Warren said. “It’s ridiculous [the restaurant] was mentioned in any way.”
The story of a Guatemalan man’s arrest for allegedly helping to distribute roughly $5 million of heroin first appeared in the Burlington Free Press on Oct. 17.
“I don’t think we have a major drug hub up here,” Manchester Chief of Police Michael Hall said Monday afternoon. “But I think the area lends itself to individuals being able to carry out that kind of act with less chance of being seen.”
The investigation, led by the Department of Homeland Security, resulted in the Oct. 8 arrest of Diego Walther Anibal Mejia Paredes, 33, of Guatemala. Federal authorities say Paredes, who arrived in New York from Guatemala on a visitor visa three days earlier, had more than 88 pounds of heroin on his person when stopped by federal agents. He is charged with knowingly possessing heroin with intent to distribute, a charge which carries a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison.
It’s unclear whether the heroin — which was divided into 1.2 kilogram and .5 kilogram packages totalling over one million individual doses, according to reports — was intended to be distributed within Vermont or taken to another state.
A package containing the heroin was addressed to “Jose Medina,” a person whom law enforcement could not find record of having lived in the area and deemed “nonexisting.” The address on the package was the same one for the restaurant, according to reports.
The package never entered the business. And the restaurant doesn’t even accept mail at that address, according to Warren.
According to reports, when an undercover agent, posing as the shipping business courier, delivered the drugs outside the restaurant, Paredes was there and said he was the recipient’s cousin. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security declined the Banner’s request for comment for this story, and it’s unclear why the package had the restaurant’s address on it.
But news reports from around the country indicate a trend of drug traffickers using the U.S. Postal Service or a private courier service to transport controlled substances. Packages have been sent to unsuspecting homeowners or business owners, nonexisting addresses, nonexisting residents of real addresses, or some combination. Sometimes, a person involved with the drug trafficking operation attempts to intercept the package as it’s being delivered.
Hall urged residents of small towns to be vigilant and notify authorities if they see something unusual.
“We have a nice, quiet community with a relatively low crime here,” he said. “But we’re only four hours from New York City and Boston. We’re clearly near where these operations are organized.”
Hall said his department works closely with the Vermont Drug Task Force, a collaboration between municipal and Vermont State Police and sheriff departments.
It’s that sharing of information, he said, which has helped take down drug traffickers.
Also important has been traffic enforcement and making a police presence known, he said.
“It’s all part of keeping the pressure on individuals whom may not be doing things in the public’s best interest,” he said.
