[R]UTLAND — Nearly two dozen people are facing drug-related charges in southwestern Vermont after an operation involving multiple law enforcement agencies this week.
Police arrested 20 people Tuesday and Wednesday in Rutland and Bennington counties. As of Wednesday afternoon, one suspect had not yet been arrested.
Two others face charges in federal court — one on multiple counts of selling heroin and the other on a count of possessing a firearm.
This week’s arrests come in addition to eight drug-related cases in which the U.S. attorney’s office has brought charges over the last month.
U.S. Attorney Eric Miller said the arrests are the latest development in an effort over the last several years to crack down on a “loosely affiliated group” that has been bringing “a lot of heroin and a lot of crack” to Vermont from out of state.
“We think we’ve made a significant dent in the organizations through these joint efforts,” Miller said at a news conference Wednesday.
Most of those arrested this week are Vermonters, according to authorities. Miller said the network has two components: traffickers who bring drugs in from out of state, and residents who support them with housing, other resources and connections to customers.
“Unless we continue to go after both of those groups, we’re not going to be effective in combating this crisis,” Miller said.
The Vermont Drug Task Force coordinated with the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and local and county police agencies on the sting.
At the news conference Wednesday, leading figures in Vermont law enforcement lauded the cross-agency cooperation.
“Not only can we not treat our way out of this epidemic that we have in Vermont, we also cannot arrest our way out of this problem,” Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn said. “The path to getting to a better Vermont and reducing this epidemic is a combination of both.”
Flynn said the sweep was part of an ongoing effort to root out and disrupt drug distribution infrastructure around Vermont.
“This sweep is not the end of a process, it is a continuation of a process that we have going throughout the state,” Flynn said.
Col. Matt Birmingham, director of the Vermont State Police, said it is difficult to say how much impact these arrests will have in the long run.
“It’s extremely hard to quantify the drug problem,” Birmingham said.
Anecdotally, he said that communities where there have been sweeps in the past have experienced “a positive energy” that spurred a community response to drug use, pointing to Rutland’s Project Vision.
The market for drugs tends to die down immediately after a major bust in a particular area, he said, “but it will come back up slowly, and we will be monitoring that and we hope that we can keep the market at bay longer each time.”
Rutland County State’s Attorney Rose Kennedy said she will consider each case individually, weighing the nature of the charge and whether addiction is involved. Some cases may be diverted into drug court or pretrial services.
Suspects facing federal charges could see a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, though that will likely vary depending on the process in court and determination of the judge.
Of the defendants facing state charges, 12 are accused of single or multiple counts of selling heroin: Robert S. Grady, 34, of Rochester; Timothy B. Euber, 38, of Rutland; Anthony Courcelle, 21, of Rutland Town; Cassie Morse, 26, of North Adams, Massachusetts; Candi Peters, 36, of Bennington; Shari Perras, 24, of North Adams, Massachusetts; Andrew Onorato, 31, of Bennington; Spencer Mumford, 23, of West Rutland; Christopher Nadeau, 26, of Rutland; William Manfredi, 36, of Rutland; and John Mason, 33, of Pownal. The 12th, Richard Winnie, 42, of Bennington, has not yet been arrested.
Sheri Fitzgerald, 52, of Rutland, and Chelsea Hill, 24, of Rutland, face charges of selling and conspiring to sell heroin. Casey Clifford, 22, of Rutland, faces charges of selling heroin and fentanyl.
Carlos Vasquez, 42, of Bennington, faces charges of trafficking heroin.
Several others face charges of selling cocaine: Colleen M. Keefe, 43, of Rutland; Kevin Scully, 25, of Ludlow; and Felicia Ackley, 28, of Rutland. Jerry Crandall, 46, of Bennington, is accused of selling both cocaine and oxycodone.
Daniel Pyne, 30, of Bennington, is accused of selling oxycodone.
Two people were arrested this week on federal charges: Kevin Williams, 42, of Rutland, faces three counts of selling heroin, and Jason Tiraboschi, 27, of West Rutland, faces a charge of possessing a firearm.
Eight others have been arrested since Dec. 31 and indicted on charges related to heroin.
The defendants are due to be arraigned later this month and in March.
