A Massachusetts man is behind bars on federal drug charges after a chase in southern Vermont.
Police allege Matthew A. Oquendo, 28, of Holyoke, Massachusetts, was pursuing an informant who gave him fake money when an FBI agent rammed his vehicle, trying to get him to stop.
During a video arraignment held Friday in federal court in Burlington, Oquendo pleaded not guilty to charges of selling heroin and fentanyl. He was ordered detained while awaiting trial.
The FBI used a confidential informant to buy drugs from Oquendo during a monthslong investigation, according to court records and the U.S. attorney’s office.
On March 8, according to federal prosecutors, an informant bought about 2,000 bags of fentanyl from Oquendo for $4,000 in a parking lot in Brattleboro. Five days later, prosecutors allege, on March 13, the informant bought roughly 20,000 bags of heroin from Oquendo for $40,000 in the same parking lot.
Shortly after that deal, according to federal prosecutors, Oquendo realized the money was fake and tried to chase down the informant’s vehicle.
Law enforcement officers tried to stop him by driving toward his car, but Oquendo was able to pursue the informant’s vehicle before an FBI agent rammed Oquendo’s Chevrolet Traverse, federal prosecutors said.
“After the collision, Oquendo (in the Traverse) fled the parking lot,” an affidavit in support of the charges stated. “The FBI pursued Oquendo with its flashing blue/red lights and sirens engaged. Oquendo sped through an intersection and into the oncoming lane at a high rate of speed, causing the FBI to lose sight of the Traverse.”
Police said they found Oquendo’s Traverse abandoned at the end of a driveway on Paul’s Road in Guilford, just south of Brattleboro, with the fake money inside it.
A police dog was called in and shortly after Oquendo and another man were found in a wooded area.
Oquendo was taken into custody. The other man, who police did not identify in court filings, told authorities he went for a ride with Oquendo, believing they were headed to Connecticut, not Vermont.
The man told police he slept most of the trip and woke up only when the Traverse was hit by another car, and Oquendo later told him to run into the woods.
Jeffrey Davis, the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, said the other man found in the woods has not been charged.
Steven Barth, a federal public defender representing Oquendo, argued that Oquendo should be released while awaiting trial. He wrote that Oquendo could live with an aunt in Springfield, Massachusetts, and could work in his uncle’s automotive shop.
“Although the charges against Mr. Oquendo are serious, as are the charges in his criminal history he has only one apparent conviction on his record,” Barth wrote in his filing.
“Given his strong ties to Massachusetts, his record of complying with court orders, and his minimal criminal record, Mr. Oquendo requests that he be released on conditions pending the resolution of his case,” the defense attorney wrote.
Despite Barth’s arguments, Magistrate Judge Kevin Doyle granted the prosecution’s request to keep Oquendo in custody.
Barth, reached later Friday, declined comment on the case.
If convicted, Oquendo faces a five-year mandatory minimum sentence, based on the allegation of distributing 100 grams or more of heroin.
Read the story on VTDigger here: FBI agent rams vehicle driven by a suspect, who was chasing an informant in a drug case.
