Three New Yorkers Sentenced On Drug Trafficking Charges

Burlington, Vermont - The United States Attorney’s Office announced that Oscar Maldonado, 41, Jamal Jones, 34, and Curtis Christian, 31, all of New York City, were recently sentenced in United States District Court in Rutland following their guilty pleas to charges that they conspired to distribute heroin, fentanyl, cocaine and cocaine base, or actually distributed those substances. Today, Chief U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford sentenced Maldonado to 24 months of imprisonment, to be followed by a three-year term of supervised release.  Last week, Judge Crawford sentenced Jones to one year and one day of imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release. In September, Judge Crawford sentenced Christian to two years of probation. The court ordered Maldonado to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on March 14 to begin serving his sentence.  Jones is already incarcerated.

According to court records, Maldonado conspired with others, including Joshua Preston, 34, of Johnson, to distribute narcotics in Vermont between about 2017 and March 2020.  Maldonado sent the drugs to Vermont via couriers that included Jones and Christian.  Many of those drugs were delivered to Preston, who redistributed them in Vermont. Preston was arrested in 2020; Maldonado, Christian and Jones were arrested in 2021 after their indictment in this case. Preston previously pleaded guilty and is serving a 48-month sentence.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the DEA Task Force.  

Maldonado was represented by Assistant Public Federal Defender Steven Barth. Jones was represented by Devin McLaughlin, Esq. and Christian by John Mabie, Esq. The prosecutor was Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Waples.