Government’s investigation has revealed a violent and sprawling Bennington drug ring with ties to Bloods gang

By Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First

BURLINGTON – The first of three dangerous suspects – including two linked by Bennington authorities to a disturbing plastic bag suffocation attack over the head of a local woman – has pleaded not guilty in federal court to a drug conspiracy charge.

Keahnard “Stacks” Rowell, 34, of Bennington and New York City denied this month he was part of a violent conspiracy distributing fentanyl and crack cocaine in Vermont and elsewhere between Feb. 17, 2022 and July 1, 2022.

William D. McLaughin Jr., 45, of Bennington and Samatha Danforth, 34, of Pownal also have been indicted on conspiracy to distribute the two dangerous drugs.  They are both in state custody and their arraignments have not been scheduled in federal court.

McLaughlin, who is suspected of having ties to The Bloods street gang, also was indicted on a charge of possession of a Taurus 9-mm pistol on May 3, 2022 while being a multi-time convicted felon, records show.

“The government’s investigation has revealed a violent and sprawling Bennington drug ring, with McLaughlin at the top; Rowell …as one of his primary right hands; Danforth managing day-to-day operations alongside McLaughlin; and several others including trap- and stash-house hosts, runners and other middlers,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Corinne M. Smith said.

Witnesses also testified that toward the end of the charged conspiracy, Rowell and McLaughlin had a falling out, Smith said.  McLaughlin was involved in a stabbing of a man, which was charged in state court, she said.  McLaughlin had been looking for Rowell when he instead found the victim, who owed him drug money, the prosecutor noted in court papers.

He also was present when McLaughlin was involved in a severe beating of a woman that he believed had called unnecessary attention to a drug-storage location, officials said. 

Witnesses also testified the Rowell took Danforth to New York and held her captive at one point, Smith said.

“During this encounter, Danforth shot “Stacks” and was charged by the state of New York; the charge was subsequently dropped as the shooting was determined to have been in self-defense,” Smith wrote. 

While Rowell was involved in the Bennington drug conspiracy, he was on state probation from New York for one of his earlier drug convictions, Smith said.

Rowell would take trips to New York City to refresh the drug supply for the Bennington-based organization, while at other times he would host McLaughlin and Danforth in New York City when they came to meet a drug supplier, court records note.

While most of the violence associated with the drug organization appeared to be done by McLaughlin – including a shooting, a near suffocation, a stabbing and several beatings – witnesses reported Rowell “was present for significant violent events,” Smith wrote.

The criminal indictment stems from the latest ongoing proves by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and the uniform and detective divisions at Bennington Police into serious drug and gun cases in Southwestern Vermont. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also was involved in the investigation
 

Homeland Security Investigations initially arrested Rowell on a charge of illegal intentional possession of ammunition on Jan. 25, in Bennington, federal court records show.

Rowell is prohibited from possessing any firearms or ammunition under federal law because he is a multi-time convicted felon, HSI said. Rowell had felony convictions for criminal possession of controlled substances in New York County in New York in July 2013 when he got a one-year prison term and in August 2022 when he got a 3-year term on probation, HSI noted in court papers. 

HSI reported the Manhattan assistant district attorney, who prosecuted the August 2022 case, recently reported Rowell was informed when he entered his guilty plea that he could be imprisoned for up to 8 years.

During the new arraignment for Rowell this week in Burlington the prosecution indicated it plans to dismiss the initial ammunition charge.  They said more investigation is needed in that case.

Magistrate Judge Kevin Doyle agreed that Rowell should remain in federal custody. 

Doyle initially had released Rowell on the ammunition charge back on Feb. 8 with the understanding he would be under home detention in New York City except for attending a special educational training program.

Doyle ordered him jailed May 31 after the U.S. Probation Office, which had been monitoring his release, reported Rowell had used cocaine and marijuana at least four times, Smith noted.

Doyle also ruled there was a presumptive positive test just before the court hearing that showed Rowell had cocaine in his system, court records note.

Rowell has at least four previous drug convictions, including the two felony cases in New York, records show.  He also served a 90-day sentence for a 2010 conviction for possession of a controlled substance and a 20-day sentence for a similar crime in June 2013, records note. 

Defense lawyer Jason Sawyer asked for 90 days for him to investigate the new indictment and to consider pre-trial motions.  Doyle set a Dec. 9 deadline.

Sawyer said he hopes to get his client enrolled in Valley Vista, a residential drug treatment facility in Bradford.

The ammunition case began when Bennington Police Officer Robert Murawski conducted a traffic stop of a black 2001 Chevrolet Suburban that was traveling eastbound on Vermont 279 at 70 miles per hour in a 55-mph zone about 12:30 p.m. Jan. 25, court records show.

Murawski while talking with the driver during the traffic stop realized the passenger was the same man he had come across at an apartment at 308 Pleasant Street in Bennington on Jan. 12 as part of a criminal investigation into a stolen Smith & Wesson .40-caliber pistol.

Murawski reported he remember the man verbally claimed to be “Desmond Thomas” and a witness reported he was a drug supplier and had been allowed to live at the apartment in exchange for drugs, HSI said in a court affidavit.

Murawski said he later learned that HSI had been investigating Rowell since 2022.

The Bennington driver was arrested on a charge of possession of cocaine for drugs found in the car, records show.  Rowell was allowed to leave as the investigation continued. 

Murawski seized the vehicle and later obtained a search warrant that helped net a loaded black Taurus .45-caliber handgun along with four different kinds of .45-caliber ammunition, HSI reported.

The driver said the gun and 66 bullets found in the car were not his and were not in the car when he got outside to talk to police for 12 minutes during the traffic stop.

Rowell had been left alone in the car, police said.  The gun was found behind the driver’s seat and contained two hollow point rounds and five full metal jack ammunition, HSI said.  Two boxes of mixed ammo were also found.  The cocaine was found in the center console, police said.

If McLaughlin is convicted on the firearms charge, prosecutors have asked in the indictment for the gun and any ammunition to be forfeited to the government.

The federal indictment does not list McLaughlin’s felony convictions, but he has been charged as a habitual offender in Vermont Superior Court in Bennington. 

McLaughlin has eight felony convictions in Vermont and four in New York, according to a sworn affidavit by Bennington Police in state court. 

The Vermont felony convictions include larceny from a person, sale of drugs to a minor near a school, unlawful trespass into an occupied residence, three counts of sale of cocaine and two counts of drug conspiracy, it said.  McLaughlin also has four violations of probation, the affidavit said.   

A career criminal is eligible for a habitual offender charge in Vermont – which allows a judge to impose a life sentence in prison – after three or more felony convictions.

McLaughlin was considered a “major drug supplier in Bennington County” in 2013 when he was among 63 people arrested locally as part of “Operation County Strike,” according to the Bennington Banner at the time.  

The state charged McLaughlin with 15 felony drug sale or possession charges, along with 6 misdemeanor counts, records show. 

McLaughlin and Danforth also were charged in a bizarre case involving 13 digital photographs as part of an attack on a local woman shown being held with a closed plastic trash bag over her head and her wrists bound at a South Street apartment in Bennington on May 3, 2022, records show.

The victim survived.

Danforth recently reached a plea agreement on a variety of her criminal charges that included the dismissal of counts involving the attempted suffocation with the plastic trash bag case.

McLaughlin is shown holding the woman with the plastic bag over her head as Danforth is behind her and is smiling and sticking her tongue out in some of the posed photographs, records show.  The woman appears to be struggling.