With more arrests this month, eight people have now been charged with conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine and fentanyl stemming from a November 2022 police raid in Springfield.
Local officials say gunfire has decreased since the police raid, though they are hesitant to attribute progress to that event alone.
The FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and Department of Homeland Security carried out arrests late last year on Valley Street, working with Vermont State Police and Springfield police. The operation targeted three residences on the road, which had been the center of gunfire in the Windsor County town of around 9,000.
The effort even drew praise from Gov. Phil Scott, who said at the time it would “disrupt the supply of deadly and addictive drugs, (and) take illegal guns off the street.”
In an email on Monday, Jeffrey Burnham, Springfield’s police chief, acknowledged that much information related to the raid remains confidential, but he said positive changes have occurred since the operation.
“Gunfire has decreased since the time of the raid. I hope it is a result of the raid, but I’m not certain,” he wrote. “Since the police department has increased its staffing, more local patrols by Springfield Police have been occurring and may also be contributing to the decrease in gunfire.”
Police arrested Jonathan “Jose” Castro, Anibal “Papi” Castro Sr. and Derek Arie in the immediate aftermath of the operation. Michael Cotter and James Hines were arrested soon after. Alex Barnes, Todd Amell and Jennifer Armstrong have all since been arrested and charged on the same conspiracy docket.
Amell was shot in the leg on Valley Street back in May 2022. That was during the March to November 2022 timeframe during which police say the drug conspiracy occurred.
A ninth person, Martine Protas, who police arrested after the raid, pleaded guilty earlier this month to being an unlawful user of drugs in possession of a firearm.
Police were able to gather evidence through controlled purchases of drugs using confidential informants, court records show. Suspects frequently moved among the three adjacent homes at the center of the raid, documents indicate.
Search warrants show police confiscated multiple handguns, a shotgun and a device used to detect phone tapping and bugs. Police also seized fentanyl and a number of electronic devices, among other materials.
Burnham, the police chief, told VTDigger that the raid had “given people a sense of optimism,” as it showed law enforcement is actively attempting to address concerns about safety, a sentiment echoed by Springfield Town Manager Jeff Mobus in a follow up email.
“There is hope,” Burnham wrote, that Valley Street and downtown “will slowly begin to feel safer than in years past.”
A Vermont State Police spokesperson said the department, which assisted in the operation, did not have any further updates. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont declined to comment.
