August 17, 2009

TROY SHELTRA IMPRISONED FOR MARIJUANA TRAFFICKING

The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that Troy Sheltra, 27, of Island Pond, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Burlington to 4 months of imprisonment following his guilty plea to a charge that he conspired to distribute marijuana. Chief Judge William K. Sessions III also ordered that Sheltra serve three years of supervised release following completion of his prison term. As conditions of his supervised release, Sheltra must serve an additional four months of home confinement and perform 100 hours of community service. Sheltra was ordered to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his sentence on September 15.

According to court records, Sheltra and two Canadian women, Deborah Thomson and Carroll Davidson, were arrested last September 25 after Thomson and Davidson delivered 29 pounds of Canadian marijuana to Paulina Tucker in Island Pond. Tucker, in turn, was to redistribute the drugs to Sheltra, one of her customers. Thomson and Davidson served as couriers for a Canadian marijuana supplier. At today’s sentencing hearing, Judge Sessions found that Sheltra had been receiving marijuana from Tucker for several months prior to his arrest and, altogether, distributed between 80 and 100 kilograms to his customers.

Tucker, Thomson and Davidson have all pled guilty to federal drugs charges and have been sentenced to lesser terms.

This case was investigated by the United States Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Southern Vermont State Drug Task Force. Sheltra is represented by David Kirby. The prosecutor is Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Waples.