Franklin County man denies six felony charges.
Vermont News First
A Franklin County man, who was shot by police after a home invasion in the Springfield, Mass area, has been ordered held in Vermont as both a danger to the community and a risk to flee following his arrest in St. Albans on multiple felony charges as part of his reported drug business, court records show.
Ayman A. Khalifa, 25, of St. Albans pleaded not guilty in federal court on Wednesday to five counts of distribution of crack cocaine in the Franklin County region after city police monitored a series of controlled drug purchases, according to federal court records. The sales happened between Dec. 20, 2024 and Oct. 27, the indictment said.
Khalifa also is charged with possession with intent to distribute multiple kinds of drugs, which were seized as part of a court-ordered search at his Jewett Avenue apartment in St. Albans Town on Oct. 28, records show. The confiscated drugs included fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and MDMA in quantities large enough that could trigger mandatory minimum sentences, a federal prosecutor said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana E. Hill said in court that there were actually nine drug sales made by Khalifa and monitored by St. Albans Police, but only five have been charged as of this week.
Khalifa said in court he had been treated in the past for narcotics addiction and is on suboxone.
Defense lawyer William A. Vasiliou II asked for 90 days to investigate the case and to file pre-trial motions.
The St. Albans City Police Street Crime Unit reported it began an investigation into Khalifa in December 2024 after learning he traveled to and from Massachusetts weekly to pick up drugs and that he was known to possess firearms during drug transactions, court records noted.
Federal Magistrate Kevin Doyle ordered Khalifa detained during his initial appearance in court when Hill argued Khalifa was a risk to flee and a danger to the community based on his history.
Authorities have painted a very serious adult criminal history just in the last seven years for Khalifa, who also uses the street names “Z,” and “Leaf Gz.”
After committing an armed home invasion in Chicopee, Mass. in 2018 he was shot twice as he fled from police, records show. Khalifa, who was out on bail for an earlier cocaine possession case in Springfield, Mass., later agreed to a plea agreement to firearms-related charges, records noted.
While serving probation for that offense, the defendant was arrested in the same area of Massachusetts for engaging in drug distribution, court records show. He was among three young repeat offenders arrested for firearm and drug charges in August 2022, Springfield, Mass. Police said.
Springfield Police Spokesperson Ryan Walsh said detectives seized two loaded firearms, heroin, crack-cocaine, oxycodone, and nearly $600 in cash while arresting three suspects in a parking lot on Hall of Fame Avenue. Detectives from the Springfield Police Firearms Investigation Unit (FIU) received information that the driver of a car was illegally in possession of a gun, Walsh told news outlets at the time.
Khalifa was one of two passengers arrested after a search inside the car revealed two firearms, police said. One was loaded with seven rounds of ammunition, and the other had 14 rounds. An additional large capacity magazine capable of holding 29 rounds of ammunition was also seized from the vehicle. Several bags of marijuana, 17 bags of heroin, more than 16 grams of crack cocaine, oxycodone and $5,885 in cash were seized, police said.
The Defendant was arrested again in 2024 in New Britain, Conn. on multiple charges, including assault on the elderly, strangulation and unlawful restraint, police said.
The Connecticut case was pending while the defendant engaged in the drug distribution in Vermont this year, Hill said in court papers. The Connecticut charges were also pending when he possessed a fully automatic weapon in Massachusetts last month, Hill said.
Six days before the St. Albans raid, Khalifa was arrested as a passenger in a vehicle that was stopped in Bernardston, Mass. during which a fully automatic pistol outfitted with a drum magazine containing 21 rounds of ammunition was found inside a backpack in the rear passenger-side seat, court papers noted. Bernardston, Mass. is about 12 miles south of Brattleboro on I-91.
The driver was from West Springfield, Mass. and there was a backpack with a change of clothes and toiletries.
Hill, the prosecutor in the Vermont case, said Khalifa needed to be detained when considering all the factors of the case and the defendant’s past conduct.
“The Defendant’s criminal history, ties to various locations, and the violent and dangerous nature of the crimes he has committed should prompt this Court to conclude that the factors set forth …(under federal law) … weigh against pretrial release,” the motion noted. The facts of this case also give the defendant strong incentive to flee, Hill wrote.
The head of the St. Albans Street Crime Unit filed a sworn affidavit that outlined one of the crack cocaine sales at the defendant’s apartment in January. He said the suspect pulled a clear plastic bag containing suspected cocaine out of his jacket pocket during the purchase, court records note. Khalifa weighed out some of the suspected drug and handed it to the informant, the affidavit said.
While inside the apartment, a woman entered the room and sat down next to Khalifa on the couch and bought some drugs, court records note. When the woman began to smoke the suspected crack cocaine, Khalifa removed a larger quantity of the drug from his jacket and placed it in a cereal bowl, police said. The suspected crack cocaine filled the majority of the bowl, police said.
“The distribution of crack cocaine is a serious and dangerous offense…” Hill wrote.