Connecticut Man Sentenced to 11 Years in Drug and Firearms Case

Burlington, Vermont – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont stated that on June 23, 2025, Brendan Salmon, 36, of Hartford, Connecticut, was sentenced by United States District Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford to a term of 132 months’ imprisonment to be followed by a 5-year term of supervised release. Salmon previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute fentanyl, cocaine base, and cocaine between mid-2022 and November 2023, and causing a straw purchase of a firearm in September 2022.

According to court records, Salmon, who used the street name “Nice,” began distributing fentanyl, crack, and powder cocaine in the Stowe, Vermont area in the spring of 2022. His operation, which included several associates, expanded to Morristown, Vermont and Hardwick, Vermont as his trafficking continued into 2023. Two of his Connecticut couriers were stopped along Interstate 89 in separate 2023 law enforcement operations. In each stop, law enforcement seized over 2,700 bags of fentanyl and over half a kilogram of crack and powder cocaine. The two couriers were also convicted in connection with those seizures. Salmon was also actively involved in acquiring firearms, principally handguns, in Vermont from drug customers, some of whom purchased guns for him at Vermont firearms dealers. Salmon was arrested during a search warrant on a residence in Hardwick in November 2023. He has been detained since that time.

Acting United States Attorney Michael P. Drescher commended the collaborative investigatory efforts of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Vermont State Police, the Lamoille County Sheriff’s Department, the Morristown Police Department, and the Stowe Police Department.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul Van de Graaf and Jason Turner. Salmon was represented by Mark Kaplan, Esq.