July 27, 2009

TWO MEN SENTENCED FOR CRACK COCAINE CONSPIRACY

The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Charles Brown, 28, of Springfield, Massachusetts and Gordon Ritchie, 49, of Rutland, Vermont, were sentenced on July 27, 2009 before United States Senior Judge J. Garvan Murtha for conspiring to distribute crack cocaine. Brown was sentenced to 60 months imprisonment to be followed by 4 years of supervised release. The 60 months will follow 40 months Brown has already served in state prison for his arrest in March, 2006 in possession of about 57 grams of crack cocaine. Judge Murtha found that the 57 grams were related to Brown’s federal conspiracy and reduced the sentence to take the 40 months into effect. Ritchie was sentenced to 55 months imprisonment to be followed by 5 years of supervised release.

Court records show that Brown, Ritchie and Jennifer Leonard, Ritchie’s niece and Brown’s girlfriend, conspired to bring large amounts of crack cocaine from Springfield Massachusetts to Rutland, Vermont from early 2005 to March, 2006. Brown was the leader of the group and he regularly drove to Springfield, often with Leonard, to pick up ounces of crack for resale in Rutland. The Court also found that Brown sometimes possessed firearms in the course of the conspiracy. The Court found that Ritchie had a minimal role in the conspiracy but imposed a significant sentence based in large part on Ritchie’s very lengthy criminal record, which involved both drugs and violence.

In September, 2008, all three defendants pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. Leonard is scheduled to be sentenced next month.

The case was investigated by the Vermont Drug Task Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Gelber. Charles Brown is represented by Brattleboro attorney John C. Mabie, Esq. and Gordon Ritchie is represented by South Burlington attorney Richard R. Goldsborough, Esq.