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By Guy Page
An August 13 drug raid at a Barre federally subsidized housing apartment has reignited calls for tougher enforcement against so-called “trap houses” — drug dealing bases of operations, often located in taxpayer-funded housing.
Barre police say that at about 8 p.m., Barre City Police were called to the Green Acres housing complex on Bergeron Street after an Uber driver reported driving an individual from Springfield, Massachusetts to Barre — only to be stiffed for the fare. The passenger, later identified as Dynasty Wright, 19, of Springfield, was found inside Apartment 12.
A search turned up felony quantities of crack cocaine, fentanyl, and a stolen handgun. Wright — who was already facing charges in a separate Barre Town drug case in May — was jailed at Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility on $50,000 bail. She faces charges including fentanyl trafficking, cocaine possession, possession of stolen property, violation of conditions of release, theft of services, and giving false information to police.
Police also cited Abdulkadir Aden, 20, of Rochester, N.Y., for allegedly providing false information; Amber Hussey, 30, of Barre, and Dana Hill, 36, of Barre, for allegedly dispensing drugs from a dwelling. All four were scheduled to appear in court August 14.
Police and neighbors describe Green Acres as a chronic trouble spot. Apartment 12 has reportedly been raided four times in recent years without loss of housing benefits — something local officials say is a consequence of lax application of federal HUD rules.
The Green Acres complex, built in 1971 and managed by the Barre Housing Authority, contains 52 units, including three accessible units. It sits next to a public school.
Photos of the raid were shared on Facebook by Green Acres resident Michael Deering Jr., a city councilor and former candidate for U.S. Senate. “Another night at Green Acres. Will the charges actually stick?,” Deering said.
“Families there are held hostage. Can’t afford to move. Not safe to stay,” Barre City Rep. and podcast personality Michael Boutin commented on Facebook. “There were mixed opinions [in the Legislature this year] about whether or not people should have to work for government assistance. What about engaging in criminal activity?”
One commenter to Deering’s post summed up some of the frustration expressed by Boutin and others: “This is absolutely fraudulent use of public funding for housing. If you participate in drug distribution or allow it in your home, any public assistance should be rescinded. It’s clearly endangering every other neighbor and causing unnecessary chaos. Why our representatives in government think it’s okay for everyone else who is working, paying their bills, following the rules/law, families with children…to be exposed to this on a daily basis is beyond me.”
Both federal and state law appear to give prosecutors the tools to evict and/or incarcerate not only drug dealers but the landlords/tenants who house them.
Federal law gives housing authorities the power to evict tenants for illegal drug activity — a policy sometimes referred to as the “one-strike rule.” However, in practice, evictions from taxpayer-funded housing after drug raids are rare in Vermont.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires housing authorities to follow strict due process, meaning:
The tenant must be given notice and a chance to contest the eviction.
Housing authorities must show sufficient evidence that the tenant knew of or participated in the illegal activity.
Evictions can be challenged in court, often delaying or preventing removal.
In some cases, if a family member or guest — rather than the leaseholder — is caught dealing drugs, the housing authority may choose not to pursue eviction at all.
Housing officials say these protections are meant to prevent innocent tenants from losing their homes because of someone else’s actions. Critics counter that they allow “trap houses” to remain open even after repeated police raids.
One Barre observer of the ongoing problem at Green Acres says the federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) eviction process is lengthy and complex, often requiring a year or more.
State law imposes fines and prison terms on landlords and tenants who allow drug trafficking in their homes: § 4252. Penalties for dispensing or selling regulated drugs in a dwelling
(a) No person shall knowingly permit a dwelling, building, or structure owned by or under the control of the person to be used for the purpose of illegally dispensing or selling a regulated drug.
(b) A landlord shall be in violation of subsection (a) of this section only if the landlord knew at the time he or she signed the lease agreement that the tenant intended to use the dwelling, building, or structure for the purpose of illegally dispensing or selling a regulated drug.
(c) A person who violates this section shall be imprisoned not more than two years or fined not more than $1,000.00 or both. (Added 2007, No. 187 (Adj. Sess.), § 3.)
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Categories: Public Safety
How’s that defund the police thing working out for ya democrats? What a bunch of idiots, let the police do their job, get these dirt bags off the streets and out of our state. No police presence equals crime, duh idiots!!! Replace the local government next cycle, please I beg you people of Vermont. Crap flows downhill, straight from the statehouse.
Exactly! Nobody is innocent on a lease. They allow these people to live there and deal drugs! That’s just total BS!
HUD will need to become more involved at the federal level to kick dangerous miscreants out of all publicly subsidized housing. Vermont cannot be trusted to do it without some serious sanctions threatened to the flow of HUD money here. This is another problem to be solved by Orange Man Bad. Vermont advocates for free and subsidized housing make all kinds of excuses for the actual tenants about how the situation is not their fault.
yes! More federal oversight and less local control. Soon enough we can rule America by Executive Orders! Go Trump’s agenda!
If it’s federal money, that should come with federal strings attached.
Republicans used to think the federal government was getting too strong and too big. The tides have have turned with Trump in office, republican’s big fuzzy orange guy. Funny, eh? (Canada reference there because now republicans want to take over Canada now because Trump said so. Or have republicans always wanted that?)
I think most republicans would be ok with eliminating or reducing federal spending on these programs by 50%, which would inherently be less government.
Spending money like a lottery winner is not the way to peace and prosperity, but somehow everybody falls for the drug dealer scam, hey it’s free, you’ll feel better, no strings. Then suddenly you can’t operate without it. Trapped because your in subsidized housing and there is now no way out, serf for life, paying the government who is now your land lord and controller.
It’s the cheese in the mouse trap, the mice can’t ignore.
Trump would definitely address it if we make it a priority. Unlike the Democratic Communist Party that thinks those that work and pay taxes should support everyone that doesn’t and is a poor pitiful criminal because they just never had a chance! It does no good to contact any one who is supposed to represent Vermonters. They don’t represent most of us!!😡😡😡
Vermont has very lax laws when it comes to punishing drug associated crimes, hence it becomes a magnet for more drug abuse. Perhaps some tough love would provide a better environment for the citizens of Vermont.
Exactly and Liberal Judges don’t even enforce them and turn dealers loose like a revolving door. Many are from out of State too! 😡😡
Report fraud, waste and abuse to HUD Office of the Inspector General! Identity is protected!
Good luck on that one, I can tell you, it will get you nowhere, been there done that.
Bernie is trying to make it harder to investigate fraud and abuse, he is cosponsoring a Bill with Chuck Schumer to block investigations into Social Security abuses, called “Keep Billionaires out of Social Security Bill”, surely HUD abuse and fraud will be next
This is an ongoing saga, remember in Southern Vermont, where a gentleman took a taxi from NY to buy Chinese food in Vermont? He got off, because the officer “profiled” him. Yes, a drug dealer, taxi full of drugs, going to a known drug dealing restaurant….and he got his name wrong.
Everybody in every small town knows where the drug dealing is going on, who’s doing it, when they do it.
And what happens?
The governor got all upset and in a tizzy when some young kid made a bad decision with a gun and passed legislation to stop law abiding citizens from owning a gun magazine, which doesn’t stop crime and doesn’t even make sense.
What about here?
VTGOP is pretty quiet on this one. What will the three top leaders do? Say? Will they write a strongly worded letter? The criminals are shaking in their boots. Will the open up a kiosk like they plan to do in Burlington on Chruch street?
THIS IS WIDE SPREAD ACROSS ALL TOWNS AND ALL HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS, WHY AREN’T LEADERS DOING SOMETHING???? THAT MAKES SENSE?
If we made drug dealing as hard to do business as we did Costco with their gas pumps Vermont would be drug free in 6 months.
It’s not by accident this is happening in Vermont.
Friends don’t let friends be useful idiots.
More kiosks equals less crime! Mayor Emma-Hyphen needs to bring on the kiosks!
When the Green Mountain Party was running for office, we spoke with state workers, many of who confirmed, the massive drug issues. How did transportation employees know anything about drug dealing.
Seems they were picking up needles in Randolph along side the road, 5 gallon buckets worth of needles.
We informed don’t go out of the parking lot at any rest area or park and ride, there are many needles around in the woods.
Yeah…..what are they going to do?
Know them by their actions, or in this case their inactions.
We have one of the highest per capita addicted births, that means babies born addicted to crack, heroin, fentanyl, etc…..Shumlin was not my hero but even he knew enough to bring up this topic.
We had a serious drug and crime problem in Vermont……it’s getting worse.
The law may authorize termination of public assistance to those convicted of drug offenses, but then the soft-hearted, empty-headed sob sisters (both male and female) in the legislature step in and waive that provision, because “denying welfare to the adults will only hurt their children, and the children shouldn’t be punished for the actions of their parents.” I’ve heard it all, over and over again. And then the children grow up to be just like their drug-dealing parents! It’s time to wake up and get a backbone!
And such is the moronic irony of a state legislature which promotes “safe injection sites” and “harm reduction sites.”
How do you advocate for “legal” sanctioning of fundamentally illegal and immoral activities such as drug dealing and prostitution, and then be surprised when those who stand to profit from said activities take advantage of a woke, wussy, bleeding heart legislature which consistently shoots itself in the foot to the detriment of the citizens of Vermont and the destruction of our communities?
It is their utter lack of common sense and moral will to do what is right and just which creates stupid laws and the failure to uphold good ones.
Notice both sides make excuses each time a major drug bust occurs in Barre or elsewhere? Residents point out the obvious to “representatives” and to each other on Facebook. The crimes and destruction of lives continues unabated with impunity.
The problem would be fixed if someone with authority would do their job. They won’t do their job because they are profiteering from it. If they weren’t making bank off the crimes, the problem would not exist. Prove me wrong, I welcome it!
I listen to officials and residents lament on the “problem” endlessly! Some with their saccarin, politically correct/connected niceness = willful ignorance. They point out the obvious and deny any accountability. Residents complain with emojis – then enjoy cocktails and community events together – stroking each other’s egos while the city decends into a stupor of mad intoxification and misery. The pillars of the community all have dirty secrets, some right out in the open. Yet, they perform like good little stooges so the cartels can run rimshod all over the State. Screw up and move up – that is how it works here in Barre and other communities entrenched with white-collar criminals enabling the scum of the earth.
So, in reading the last paragraph and sections a,b and c, it sounds like the Barre Housing Authority should be fined and prosecuted as landlords.
except, you see some pigs are more equal than other……like the way you think!
Perhaps this is a situation where we should use the grand jury? 🙂
When you hear and see the truth, it matters not from where it came. This is essentially our Vermont problem…….he forgot a few things….lobbyist owned…
https://twitter.com/i/status/1956583518911234187
And then it gets down to an even more basic root, the love of money, because drug dealing pays well, just like prostitution. One has to decide how do I want to live my life, what do I want as a north star? What am I going to raise up?
Power and money, vs. love, joy and peace.
Funny how it always comes back to one path, one way.
Why not make the States these folks are from pay the restitution for their crimes? We are making Canada & Mexico pay for letting Fentanyl into our country, why can’t VT make MA pay in the same sense? Maybe if we set that standard, other states can clean up their act. Also, charge every business owner with a crime (which it is) for hiring someone under the table. I’m looking at you, dairy and foodservice industry……