Suspected Drug Dealer Jailed

By Mike Donoghue THE RUTLAND HERALD
A suspected area drug dealer was ordered jailed temporarily on Friday after he was found with three kinds of drugs and evidence of firearms after a traffic stop by Rutland City Police, federal court records show.

Sami Hayyat, 47, of Middlebury, appeared in U.S. District Court in Burlington for a virtual hearing Friday afternoon on a charge of possession of fentanyl, cocaine and crack cocaine in Rutland County with intent to distribute the drugs following the traffic stop on Wednesday, records show.

Federal Magistrate Judge Kevin Doyle agreed to a request by the prosecution for a three-day delay in the detention hearing while conducting further investigation into the report of illegal possession of firearms by a convicted felon.

Hayyat, who had lived in Rutland until his move to Middlebury a few weeks ago, will remain at the Marble Valley Correctional Center in Rutland until the federal court hearing resumes on Wednesday.

Hayyat asked to be released to his family pending the hearing, but Doyle declined. Doyle noted the case was eligible for detention under federal rules because it involved drugs. Doyle also explained to Hayyat that, because he was born in Israel, there could be legal consequences beyond a prison term depending on his citizenship.

Homeland Security Investigations reported it also had video evidence of possession of a 9 mm handgun and a .45-caliber handgun in recent weeks by Hayyat, court records show.

Hayyat is prohibited as a convicted felon from possessing firearms, HSI Special Agent Josh Otey said in a court affidavit.

Hayyat told HSI agents after his arrest that he would put a magazine into a handgun, “and rack the slide of the handgun while on the phone, using the distinctive sounds to intimidate the party on the other end of the call,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ophardt said.

Middlebury Officer Casey Covey had alerted special agents with Homeland Security Investigations in September that the town department was investigating Hayyat for possible drug trafficking, court records said.

Rutland City Police Officer Oscar Meujivar stopped a car operated by Hayyat on Meadow Street for failing to have a front license plate about 3:40 p.m. Wednesday, Otey said. Hayyat, who has multiple convictions for driving while under the influence, was in violation of his requirement to have an ignition interlock system while operating any motor vehicle, records show.

Special agents with HSI, along with local police officers assigned to the HSI Statewide Task Force, later conducted a search of the Mazda MZ6 and uncovered about 279 baggies of suspected fentanyl stamped with a “Budweiser logo” Otey said. He said also confiscated were about four grams of suspected cocaine and about 43 grams of suspected crack cocaine.

Agents also seized from Hayyat’s vehicle drug packaging, a digital scale, a single round of ammunition, and a firearm holster, said Otey, a former longtime Bristol Police Officer.

Hayyat confirmed he planned to deliver the drugs to at least one other person, HSI said.

Investigators also got access through a phone to the surveillance video cameras at his Middlebury apartment at 4 Jayne Court that showed evidence of possession of a firearm, Otey said in his six-page affidavit.