by Mike Donoghue

BURLINGTON – A reported Philadelphia drug dealer, who authorities say help mastermind the killing of a St. Johnsbury man in December 2022, made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Burlington as part of an intertwined narcotics case.

Danny “Miami” Daniels, 32, had been on the run from the law for 18 months when he was arrested by authorities in New Orleans on a litany of local criminal charges following a vehicle pursuit and a foot chase last month, authorities said.

Daniels was subsequently transported by the U.S. Marshals Service back to Vermont where he is facing a federal drug indictment and awaiting arraignment on state charges related to the fatal shooting of Jimenez Lugo, 49, of Hastings Hill in St. Johnsbury, records show.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Lasher had filed a motion to have Daniels detained pending trial as a danger to the community.   Lasher maintained Daniels, who also uses the name “Kyle” was known to carry a loaded firearm while dealing drugs, records show.

Multiple witnesses reported Daniels possessed and distributed large quantities of controlled substances in the Northeast Kingdom over several months between September and December 2022, including in Troy and Newport Center, Lasher wrote in his detention motion.

Daniels routinely traveled to the New Jersey area to refresh his drug supply and witnesses reported he frequently carried a firearm when he was prohibited from having weapons, records show.

One week before his traffic stop in Vermont, Daniels was stopped in New Jersey with an Orleans County woman, who served as a frequent driver, records show.  Lasher said he expects firsthand testimony from witnesses that the road trips to New Jersey were routine and designed to obtain drugs for re-distribution in Vermont.

While dealing drugs in Vermont, Daniels was on parole for a sentence in Pennsylvania and carrying a loaded firearm, Lasher reported.

When he was caught in New Orleans in June, Daniels and a companion tried to flee from Louisiana State Police, Lasher said.  Daniels was found with both a firearm and narcotics, he said. 

Defense lawyer Lisa Shelkrot of Burlington did not contest the government’s request for him to be detained as a danger, but left the door open to return to court to fight for his release.  

A co-defendant in the federal drug case, Catherine Teixeira, 41, of Newport Center cut an early deal in to cooperate with authorities.  Teixeira, who frequently served as a driver for Daniels, pleaded guilty July 6, 2023 to a charge of knowingly and intentionally possessing cocaine and methamphetamine in a car she was sharing with Daniels on Oct. 11, 2022 on Interstate 91 near Barnet.  

As part of her deal with federal prosecutors, Teixeria was due the day after pleading guilty to check into a drug treatment facility and successfully complete the program, records show.  Instead she lasted only 13 days at Serenity House in Wallingford.

The plea agreement did provide Teixeria for a “time-served” sentence, which equated to 86 days and it was later imposed.

She was later charged with violating her supervised release conditions in her federal case.  Magistrate Judge Kevin Doyle sentenced Teixeria, then of Troy, on March 20 this year to 3 months in prison.  He told her she would be supervised release for 9 months for violating her release terms in the earlier case, records show.   

Records show she used fentanyl on Nov. 29, 2023 and cocaine and fentanyl on Dec. 4, 2023.  She also used cocaine and fentanyl in a one-week period between Dec. 13 and Dec. 20, 2023 and cocaine on Jan. 8, court documents indicate.

Daniels is the fifth person charged in connection with the fatal shooting of Lugo in December 2022.  Four others were taken into custody one month later by Vermont State Police.  They were:

• Rafael Rodriguez, 34, of St. Johnsbury: First-degree murder, assault and robbery, and burglary of an occupied dwelling while armed.
  
  
• Natasha Cady, 29, of Barton: Aiding in the commission of first-degree murder, aiding in the commission of assault and robbery, and aiding in the commission of burglary into an occupied dwelling while armed.
  
  
• Brittany Clark, 33, of St. Johnsbury: Aiding in the commission of first-degree murder, aiding in the commission of assault and robbery, and burglary into an occupied dwelling.
  
  
• Michael Ringuette, 55, of St. Johnsbury: Aiding in the commission of first-degree murder, aiding in the commission of assault and robbery, burglary into an occupied dwelling, and unlawful restraint.

Daniels is believed to have fled Vermont about a week after the homicide.