by Mike Donoghue
BURLINGTON – Four people, including a pair of Bennington residents have been charged as part of a 3-count federal drug trafficking and gun indictment, court records show.
Shavonne Doucette, 36 and Kyle Winnie, 41, both of Bennington pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Burlington to two felony counts on Monday afternoon.
They are charged with making their apartment at 215 Depot Street available for the unlawful manufacturing, storing, distributing and using of fentanyl and cocaine between August and November 2022, records show.
They also denied a felony charge that they knowingly conspired with two Springfield, Mass.-area men to distribute both fentanyl and cocaine between August and November 2022.
Javon “Juju” Calderon of Holyoke, Mass. and Christopher “Mula” Morgan of Chicopee, Mass. will be arraigned later this month. They had been charged earlier in Vermont for drug charges, records show.
The Massachusetts men are charged with being part of the same conspiracy count filed against the Bennington couple and also a second charge for brandishing firearms while trafficking fentanyl and cocaine in September 2022, the indictment said.
During separate arraignments, Chief Federal Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford ordered both Doucette and Winnie held pending further proceedings.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Corinne Smith asked for detention of Doucette and Winnie on the grounds that when they were arrested in Bennington on Friday that both were addicts and/or regular users of controlled substances, including opioids.
Smith said they could be considered at some point for pre-trial release if there was a strict structured release plan that included residential treatment.
A federal grand jury sitting in Rutland indicted the four defendants last Wednesday.
If convicted, each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison and up to a $1 million fine on the conspiracy count. For brandishing a firearm in connection with the drug trafficking, Calderon and Morgan face a mandatory minimum of 7 years in prison.
U.S. Attorney Nikolas “Kolo” Kerest cited the collaborative investigative efforts of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the HSI Special Response Team, Vermont State Police, Bennington Police, Bennington County Sheriff’s Department, Rutland City Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
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Categories: Crime
This is good news. In Bennington it’s common knowledge that you can’t go on two streets at night, it’s common knowledge what homes the drug dealers are using. This is the same across our state.
We have a major drug and alcohol problem in our state. We hand cuff our state troopers instead of criminals. We hand cuff businesses and property owners instead of criminals. This is part of our problem. It is by design. Some do not wish us good will.
Look at Bayai on Vermont Digger cover, he’s shooting guns, training others to do the same and we’ll send him to jail. We’ll have the full force of the Montpelier looking to crush him and jail him. Wanna bet the safest spot to be in Vermont, probably his town, how many drug dealers are going to mess around his property? Huh?
But drug dealers? Vermonters stay quiet. Police are told not to do anything. Montpelier is looking to make it easy to deal cocaine and crack in small quantities. And if our police, “mistakenly” do their duties, the perpetrators are let go because of “profiling”
Profiling…yeah A guy takes a taxi, full of drugs, to a known drug hang out, in Bennington if I recall, and he was let go because the office “profiled” him. He didn’t get his street name correct. How many people take a taxi, to get Chinese food…..get this….FROM A DIFFERENT STATE?
Like NY doesn’t have any Chinese restaurants?
Thank God the feds can do business in Vermont. Otherwise we’d be completely helpless against all the gangs moving into our state.
Don’t look for any of this news on VT Digger…..can you see how important this site is?
You’re right Neil, if there wasn’t federal criminal prosecution in VT, there essentially would be none at all.
Sadly though, what ISN’T good news is that there is a new BENNINGTON PROSECUTOR in town by the name of Deanna Cortney who hails from another blue state and has already proclaimed her “progressive” Marxist/Communist ideology about hoping to reduce the state’s prison population – (for those who somehow don’t yet speak “leftist lunacy” fluently, that of course means continuing to NOT prosecute dangerous & violent criminals because they are the true victims, and the law-abiding, dastardly Caucasian folk here are their “oppressors”).
Next up, she revealed to Vermont that although she clearly sees that drug addiction is a massive problem here, she hasn’t ANY idea of how to tackle that. Therefore, understanding her complete & utter naivete of how to hope to resolve this insidious but yet awfully vexing scenario, I was thinking we all might take this opportunity to very genteelly make her aware that per chance:
1.) IF THE US BORDER WOULD BE FINALLY CLOSED BY THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION IN COOPERATION WITH THE DNC IN COOPERATION WITH PUPPETEERS OF THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION IN COOPERATION WITH COMMUNIST CHINA WHO IS IN COOPERATION WITH KLAUS SCHWAB’S GLOBALIST AGENDA, MAYBE THE FENTANYL POURING INTO THIS NATION & VERMONT JUST MIGHT BE STOPPED!
2.) IF YOU CEASE FROM ALLOWING DANGEROUS, MURDEROUS, GANG AFFILIATED CRIMINAL LOWLIVES OFF THE HOOK IN THIS STATE BY CLAIMING THEY ARE THE “VICTIMS” AND THE INNOCENTS WHOM THEY PREY UPON THE “real” OFFENDERS AND PLACE THEM AND KEEP THEM IN PRISON WHERE THEY BELONG, THAT IT MIGHT JUST BE A MAJOR DETERRENT TO THEM & THEIR CONTEMPTABLE ACTIVITIES!
Lastly, to add insult to injury? She and her family live in Brattleboro.
Bennington is merely going to continue its downhill slide from bad to even worse and their leftist progressive town board and town manager who hung RAINBOW LGBTQINSANITY flags along the Main Street to commemorate the July 4th holiday this year are on the bow waving her aboard!
DEANNA CORTNEY. REMEMBER HER NAME!!!!!!!!!!!
This lovely couple is easily found on Facebook.