Drug Enforcement Administration agents and local police arrested Nigin Gunter, 25, of Hartford, Connecticut, and Chelsea Brown, 25, in Winooski after an informant allegedly arranged to purchase heroin from Brown.
Security footage showed Gunter ditching a bag filled with a large amount of cash and drugs, according to an affidavit filed by DEA Special Agent Timothy Hoffman.
Brown and Gunter were seen leaving a “known drug house” on Allen Street before splitting up. Brown got into a car with the informant, and authorities said they found 40 bags of suspected heroin in her purse.
Gunter, who police said goes by the nickname “Solo,” was later seen on security footage ditching luggage that contained $12,000 in cash, 300 grams of powder cocaine, 53 grams of cocaine base, 34 grams of suspected bulk heroin and 300 individual bags of suspected heroin, according to Hoffman.
Police no longer field test substances believed to be heroin because the presence of powerful synthetic opioids such as fentanyl make it possible for officers to overdose if they come in contact with even small amounts.
Brown’s defense attorney Katina Ready questioned whether Hoffman’s affidavit included sufficient evidence to establish probable cause that her client conspired with Gunter to sell heroin. Ready suggested Brown may have met with the informant in hopes of purchasing heroin for herself.
However, Judge John Conroy said there was “overwhelming” evidence for him to find probable cause. Evidence will now be presented to a grand jury, which will decide whether to indict the two on the conspiracy charge. It is a felony that carries a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence.
Ready said she plans to challenge information agents obtained in a post-arrest interview with Brown. In that interview Brown allegedly said she met Gunter in December and was originally trading sex for drugs with him but later started selling his drugs, with Gunter collecting the proceeds.
Gunter’s defense attorney Steven Barth questioned Hoffman about the affidavit but did not argue against a finding of probable cause.
In his own post-arrest interview, Gunter allegedly told police he began coming to Vermont with drugs in the fall of 2016. He started out selling ounces of cocaine base and grams of heroin but later graduated to selling as much as 15 ounces of cocaine and 60 grams of heroin in a single trip, according to Hoffman’s affidavit.
Gunter said he’d made 20 trips to Vermont with drugs, according to police. He acknowledged fronting drugs to Brown for her to sell and collecting the proceeds, police say. He also said he has purchased guns from customers or exchanged heroin for guns, according to the affidavit.
During Tuesday’s hearing, two women entered the gallery during the proceedings, with one causing a disturbance as she sought to get Gunter’s attention. A court security officer quieted the woman.
“I love you,” the woman said to Gunter after the hearing as she was leaving.
She told a reporter that Gunter was her boyfriend and that she was in jail when Gunter and Brown met in 2016. She appeared to blame Brown for Gunter’s arrest, but then declined to be interviewed.
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