Boston Man Charged with Selling Crack Cocaine on the Veterans Affairs Medical Center Campus in Bedford

BOSTON – A Boston man was charged today in federal court in Boston in connection with a scheme to distribute crack cocaine on the Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center campus in Bedford.

Demone Coleman, 39, was indicted on four counts of distributing cocaine base, also known as crack cocaine. In October 2017, Coleman and two others, Michael Sexton and Austin Wilkerson, were charged in a criminal complaint. Coleman was arrested in December 2017 and has been held in custody since.

According to court documents, in January 2017, a cooperating witness reported to law enforcement that Coleman was selling crack cocaine to an individual residing at the VA Medical Center. On four occasions in 2017 Coleman provided crack cocaine to his contact at the VA, who then sold it to the cooperating witness on the VA Medical Center campus in Bedford.

Coleman faces a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, five years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $1 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. 

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Sean Smith, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General, Northeast Field Office; Albert Angelucci, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Division; and Shawn Kelly, Chief of Police of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Police Service, Bedford VA Medical Center, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Soivilien of Lelling’s Major Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendants are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.