By Mike Donoghue
VERMONT NEWS FIRST
BURLINGTON, VT – A third criminal defendant indicted in connection with a sweeping drug raid in Springfield in November 2022, has agreed to plead guilty to a federal conspiracy charge, while a magistrate has approved the release of a fourth defendant from prison to enroll in a residential drug rehab program.
Derek Arie, 35, of Springfield has signed an 8-page plea agreement with federal prosecutors admitting he was part of an interstate conspiracy to distribute both fentanyl and crack cocaine between March 2022 and Nov. 30, 2022.
Arie, one of eight indicted in the conspiracy case, is due to formally change his plea from not guilty to guilty in U.S. District Court in Burlington on Sept. 21, records show.
Meanwhile, Todd M. Amell, 51, of Springfield, who is still awaiting trial on the same felony conspiracy charge, was ordered released Friday so he could enroll at Valley Vista, a residential drug rehabilitation center in Bradford.
Federal Magistrate Judge Kevin Doyle said the release plan required Amell to head to Bradford and after completing the rehab program he is to live in Springfield. The U.S. Probation Office secured a taxi to take Amell after the court hearing to Bradford.
William A. Hunter of Cavendish, a former Vermont legislator and disbarred lawyer, has agreed to provide rental housing to Amell in Springfield and will offer him work, according to court papers.
Under the release plan, Amell will live at either 7 School Street or 12 Central Street and will be able to offset part of his rent by doing work for Hunter, who owns multiple properties in the area, defense lawyer Chandler Matson wrote.
Matson, who lives in Stowe, said in court he only recently learned about Hunter and his past work and that he now focuses as a “community activist” on helping those in need, especially for transitional housing.
“God bless him for that endeavor,” Matson told Doyle. Hunter graduated from Yale University and completed Harvard Law School and more recently became a lay minister.
Under questioning from Doyle, Amell said he has been employed as a carpenter and plumber in the past and will do work for Hunter.
“The real work begins now,” Doyle told Amell about staying out of trouble. Amell started to become emotional when he said he wants to make amends with his children and grandchildren and get his life headed in the right direction.
Matson described Amell at an earlier court proceeding as a “low-level participant” although his initial federal hearing was delayed a day while he went through withdrawal.
Doyle reminded Amell that he will be on strict release conditions. They require no guns, no drugs, including marijuana and no contact with the 7 other co-defendants, including Jennifer Armstrong, 43, who he had been involved with at one time.
Federal, state and local authorities raided 3 residences on Valley Street in Springfield on Nov. 30, 2022 as part of the ongoing, complex drug and gun investigation. The apartments were on the first floor at 70 Valley Street and the second floor at 77 and 78 Valley Street, court records show.
There had been more than a half dozen gunfire incidents in Springfield over the summer of 2022, including one fatal shooting of a man in June. Amell also was wounded in the leg in a May 2022 shooting on Valley Street, police said.
Aerie, one of the leaders of the conspiracy, was involved in several incidents as part of the case, court papers noted. During a traffic stop in Springfield on June 4, 2022, a safe was found with 40 grams of crack cocaine and 9 bags of fentanyl and other controlled substances, the plea agreement said.
Aerie also was present when police responded to a report of shots fired on Valley Street on June 16, 2022. Investigators obtained a search warrant for a bag Aerie was carrying and located 205 bags of fentanyl, 43 grams of crack cocaine and $905 in cash, court records show.
Police also stopped him in Weathersfield on Aug. 2, 2022 and a court-ordered search of his bag that day netted 148 grams of cocaine and $3,484 in cash. In all three stops, Aerie planned to work with others to distribute the controlled substances, the plea agreement said.
Two other defendants have struck deals with prosecutors in recent weeks.
Anibal “Papi” Castro Sr., 55, and James Hines, 54, of Springfield both have pleaded guilty to being part of the same conspiracy.
Pre-sentence investigations by the U.S. Probation Office are underway. The conspiracy charge carries a possible 20-year prison term, up to lifetime supervision after release from prison and up to a $1 million fine.
Castro provided crack cocaine and fentanyl in Springfield and elsewhere between March and Nov. 30, 2022, the plea agreement said. Castro provided the drugs to the co-conspirators, who sold them on his behalf and give him money back, the plea agreement said.
During one sale at his residence at 77 Valley Street to an informant, Castro was cooking crack cocaine in a microwave in November 2022.
During the Nov. 30, 2022 raid, Castro was arrested when found in a vehicle at a parking lot at Springfield Hospital. Police said they found about 18 grams of crack cocaine in or just outside the car, along with four oxycodone pills.
Anibal Castro, who has a history of equipping himself with firearms, has about five felony convictions in New York State going back to 1991, court records show.
Hines, as part of the conspiracy, drove to Massachusetts to obtain crack cocaine and heroin/fentanyl to bring back to Vermont for distribution, the plea agreement said.
During one trip on Oct. 10, 2022, Hines drove a vehicle owned by one of the other co-conspirators to Northampton, Mass. to get drugs and on the way home the car was stopped and police recovered 1,000 bags of fentanyl from the center console, the agreement said. The owner of the car was seated next to Hines and police found crack cocaine under the front seat, records show.
The investigation was the latest joint effort by federal, state and local officials to try to get a handle on the drug trafficking and shootings that had plagued Springfield for more than a year.
Gov. Phil Scott, at the time, praised the “months of hard, intelligence-based investigative work that will weaken a network of criminal activity in the region.” He said the work would continue.
“Operations like this disrupt the supply of deadly and addictive drugs, take illegal guns off the street, and hold drug dealers accountable for poisoning Vermonters for profit. They also create an opportunity to help those suffering from addiction get back on the right path through our social service systems,” Scott said at the time.
Three other men charged in the conspiracy, along with Armstrong and Amell are all awaiting trial. No trial date has been set.
Jonathan “Jose” Castro, 33, Alex Barnes, 34, and Michael J. Cotter, 33, of Springfield have all pleaded not guilty to being part of the interstate conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and crack cocaine, court records show.
As an offshoot of the drug and gun investigation, Martine Protas, 44, of Springfield was charged in a federal indictment with illegal possession of a loaded firearm while being an unlawful user of drugs, records show.
She was arrested with Annibal Castro Sr. while they were suspected of smoking crack cocaine in the parking lot at Springfield Hospital on Nov. 30, while the 3 searches on Valley Street were in progress, records show.
Doyle agreed four months later to release Protas from jail for a drug treatment program for women at Valley Vista in Vergennes, but she failed to show up the next day, records show. They also show Protas had no contact with the Probation Office and was missing. The U.S. Marshals Service arrested her in Springfield on April 6.
The defendant, also known as Martine Barrows-Protas, pleaded guilty in June and is due for sentencing in the gun case on Oct. 20.
The Vermont Drug Task Force, the Vermont State Police, the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the police departments in Springfield, Windsor, Brattleboro, and in Lebanon, N.H., along with the Office of Windsor County State’s Attorney’s Ward Goodenough collaborated on the investigation and raids.
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