Fifth defendant picked up on indictment
By Michael Donoghue
Vermont News First
A version of this story also appeared in the Bennington Banner
BURLINGTON – A Springfield, Mass. man was ordered jailed Wednesday after officials say he helped lead a conspiracy in the Bennington County region that brought drugs to Vermont for almost two years in exchange for guns getting brought back to Massachusetts, court records show.
Alec Diaz-Garcia, 21, is named as part of a six-count federal indictment for the distribution of fentanyl and crack cocaine between June 2023 and January 15, 2025 in Vermont and elsewhere. The defendant, also known as Alex Diaz-Garcia, is one of five defendants named in the federal indictment.
Diaz, who goes by the street name “Benn Tenn,” appeared in U.S. District Court in Burlington on Wednesday afternoon. He pleaded not guilty to the drug conspiracy charge and a separate count of possessing firearms on Nov. 6, 2023 to further his drug trafficking conspiracy.
Diaz’s conduct as part of the conspiracy means he will face enhanced prison penalties, if convicted, because he was involved in more than 280 grams (almost 10 ounces) of crack cocaine, the indictment maintains.
He is due back in federal court Friday afternoon for a motion by the government seeking his detention pending trial.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from Massachusetts and the Vermont Drug Task Force arrested Diaz at a residence on King’s Way in Pownal early Thursday. Officers from the Bennington County Sheriff’s Department, the Bennington Police including its K-9 and North Adams (Mass.) Police assisted during the raid.
Springfield, Mass. Police reported in July 2023 that officers, working on a tip, arrested Diaz-Garcia on a charge of illegal possession of a firearm. They said Diaz-Garcia, then 19, faced charges of carrying a firearm without a license and possessing a loaded large-capacity firearm on a public way. Officers seized a Ghost Gun loaded with 14 rounds of ammunition and more than $6,700 in cash, police said.
Also charged earlier in the Vermont indictment are:
Anthony “Ace” Alonso-Alomar, 19, also from the Springfield, Mass. area, Jessica A. Harrington, 42, of Bennington, Adrienne Bowen, 35, of Bennington and Nelson Prewe, 32, of Bennington.
Authorities have said the conspiracy was involved in dangerous criminal behavior, including trading drugs for guns and running a crack house in Bennington.
Harrington is charged with operating the crack house at an apartment at 222 Union St. in Bennington between November 2024 and December 2024. She is charged with unlawfully and knowingly managing and controlling the residence and making it available to others to distribute crack cocaine, the indictment said.
Harrington is known by the drug task force as a user and dealer of controlled substances with a history of housing out-of-state drug dealers in Vermont, a task force affidavit noted.
Harrington appeared in federal court in Rutland Wednesday afternoon for a motion seeking her release, but it was withdrawn.
Officials have said the gun-toting Alonso-Alomar, who is facing federal charges for crack cocaine distribution in Bennington County, has made death threats to people that he thinks may have cooperated with law enforcement.
Alonso-Alomar has no ties to Bennington County and his only reason to visit was to sell drugs, officials said. They said he used juveniles to facilitate his illegal trafficking business.
Bennington Police Chief Paul Doucette has said numerous times there has been an ongoing pipeline in recent years connecting Springfield, Mass. drug dealers with Bennington.
Bowen is known to police, including for a case when she was found passed out and face down after using heroin as her toddler played with drug paraphernalia close by, records show.
A judge sentenced her to 18 to 42 months in prison all suspended but six months after she pleaded guilty in December 2022 to child abandonment by endangering a child under 2 and a burglary charge for incident on Hawks Place in Bennington in November 2020.
Under the plea deal the state dropped 11 other pending charges against Bowen from several incidents, including a felony count of grand larceny and multiple misdemeanor charges of petty larceny, the Banner reported in December 2022.
