by Mike Donoghue

BURLINGTON – A former Essex County man has been sentenced to 14 months in federal prison for his part in a 10-member drug conspiracy that was responsible for the distribution of fentanyl and crack cocaine in Vermont and elsewhere in 2022.

Jeremy “O.G.” Allin, 54, now of Lancaster, N.H., will also be on federal supervised release for 3 years once he is discharged from prison.

U.S. District Court Judge Christina Reiss agreed to recommend to the Federal Bureau of Prisons that Allin be considered for the Federal Correctional Institution in Berlin, N.H., to allow him to be close to his family.

She also agreed to allow Allin to surrender on Aug. 9.

Allin, formerly of Lunenberg, had pleaded guilty in December to conspiring with others to distribute fentanyl and crack cocaine.

The conspiracy was headed by one of his co-defendants, Juan Carlos “J.C.” Ortiz, 30, of Springfield, Mass., records show. The rest were all Orleans County region residents.

Under the plea agreement with Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Lasher, the government agreed to ask for no more than five years in prison.

Veteran defense lawyer Kevin Henry of Burlington asked for a “time served” sentence with three years of supervised release.

Henry noted Allin had a crime-free life until he was in his mid to late 40s. Allin became hooked on opioids after he was injured on the job in 2015, Henry said.  Allin got arrested three times for drug-related crimes in one month in April 2019 at age 48, Henry said.

Henry said Allin was released on Dec. 2, 2022, to seek in-patient drug treatment, which he completed and later moved in with his parents, who are in their late 70s, in Lancaster, N.H.

Ortiz has been sentenced to almost eight years in prison, followed by five years on federal supervised release, records show.

Allin became hooked up in late 2021 while Ortiz was staying at multiple residences in the Orleans County region for the purpose of distributing drugs, records show. The crack cocaine and fentanyl were distributed primarily in Orleans, Essex and Caledonia Counties, the plea agreement said.

Allin initially purchased controlled substances from Ortiz for his own use, but he eventually began working with Ortiz to complete drug transactions and to provide transportation for the drug activities, according to the Vermont Drug Task Force.

Following the execution of a search warrant at a residence in Westfield in February 2022, Ortiz began staying with other conspirators at their residences throughout the Northeast Kingdom, including with Allin in Lunenberg between February 2022 and August 2022, records show.

The Allin residence was used to store, prepare and distribute controlled substances, the plea agreement said. Allin acted as a middleman in transactions for Ortiz, delivering controlled substances to customers that Ortiz had set up, records show.

During one of the transactions, Allin delivered 50 bags of fentanyl to a customer at the Pettyco Junction Country Store in St. Johnsbury on July 26, 2022, records note. Allin, who got controlled substances for his work, continued his drug interactions with Ortiz until he was arrested in August 2022.

The long-term investigation was sparked by the Vermont Drug Task Force and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). They were assisted by agents with Homeland Security Investigations, the Vermont State Police, both the Orleans and Essex County Sheriff’s Departments, Newport City Police, aviators with the Air & Marine Operations component of United States Customs and Border Protection, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Essex County Sheriff Trevor Colby said he thanked the Vermont Drug Task Force and ATF for jumping into the case and was glad his rural department was able to help give a hand.

“There are only so many drug task force members in the state and to be able to get some convictions locally, when we have a serious problem, and to get assistance and resources from the task force is great,” Colby said.

The longtime sheriff said criminal cases like this, with drug trafficking in a small community like Lunenburg, can have a significant negative impact and raise crime and incident risks.

As part of the 10-count indictment, Lasher, the prosecutor, also sought the forfeiture of any profits derived from the complex conspiracy.

Court records show the following for the eight other defendants:

Clair Delandes, 66, of Island Pond, is due for sentencing this week.

Margaret Radford, 55, of Newport Center, received a 12-month and 1-day prison term, followed by three years of federal supervised release.

Hayley McDonald, 27, of Derby and Mary Rhodes, 47, of North Troy, received time-served sentences, with each being placed on three years of supervised release.

Angela Birk, 43, of Newport, was sentenced to 3 months in prison with credit for time served and to be run concurrently with any state prison sentence. She also was placed under three years of federal supervision.

Loretta Poquette, 47, of Norton, Ronald Braun, 45, of Lowell and Jessica Ward, 46, of Lowell, are still waiting for sentencings in their cases.