Connecticut Man Sentenced to Five Years Imprisonment for Distribution of Heroin, Fentanyl, and Crack Cocaine in the Manchester, Vermont Area

 The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Torrie Smith, 31, was sentenced to five years imprisonment by U.S. District Court Judge William K. Sessions III. Smith previously pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute, heroin, cocaine, and crack cocaine. Judge Sessions also sentenced Smith to a four-year term of federal supervised release, which will begin after Smith completes his five-year prison term. At the time of his arrest, in April 2019, Smith resided in both Manchester, Vermont and Hartford Connecticut.

According to court records, on three separate instances, law enforcement seized significant quantities of drugs from cars in which Smith was either driving or was a passenger: 

    (1) November 27, 2018 Traffic Stop (Sunderland, Vermont): Vermont State Police seized 39 grams of cocaine powder, 8 grams of cocaine base, 99 bags containing fentanyl (3 grams), 203 pills, including 22 Oxycodone pills. 

    (2) January 25, 2019 Traffic Stop (Manchester, Vermont): Manchester Police seized about 100 grams of cocaine base, 45 grams of cocaine powder, 396 bags containing fentanyl (9 grams), 8 grams heroin, and .2 grams methamphetamine. 

    (3) March 27, 2019 Traffic Stop (Chester, Vermont): Chester Police seized about 46 grams of cocaine base, 102 grams of cocaine powder, 202 Oxycodone pills, and $1,860. 

The total seized from these seizures, including additional drugs seized at the time of Smith’s arrest, was approximately 160 grams of crack cocaine, 190 grams of powder cocaine, 495 bags of fentanyl (12 grams), eight grams of heroin, and miscellaneous pills, including 224 Oxycontin pills. 

According to the government’s allegations, Smith made several trips to the Hartford, Connecticut area to pick up drugs and then returned to the Manchester, Vermont area where he sold these drugs. The government stated in its Sentencing Memorandum that the five-year sentence was justified “to protect the public from the defendant’s relentless drug dealing.”

This case was investigated by the Vermont Drug Task Force, the FBI, the Vermont State Police (Shaftsbury Barracks), the Manchester Police Department, and the Chester Police Department. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Perella. Smith is represented by Michael Desautels, Esq. of the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Burlington.