Vermont Resident Sentenced for Importing More Than 50 Kilograms of Marijuana

The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont announced that Jack M. Cohen, 36, presently of Hyde Park, Vermont, was sentenced today in United States District Court in Burlington following his guilty plea to importation into the United States of more than 50 kilograms of marijuana.  United States District Judge Christina Reiss sentenced Cohen to a time-served period of imprisonment (approximately a day), and ordered that Cohen be subject to three years of supervised release.  

According to court records, Cohen was arrested on March 24, 2021 in the town of Canaan, Vermont, after he was stopped by a U.S. Border Patrol Agent along Route 114.  Agents located and seized approximately 272 pounds of packaged marijuana in large duffle bags in the bed of Cohen’s truck.  Cohen had just left an unoccupied camp along Lake Wallace where he had met individuals at the international border with Canada; those individuals used snow machines towing sleds to carry the marijuana across the lake ice to the camp.  Based on prior events at the camp, Cohen had previously made at least two trips to that location to import marijuana across the international border, and he’d previously made several additional trips to other locations along the border for the same purpose.  The Court found that the enterprise involved at least 400 kilograms (882 pounds) of  marijuana.

The case was investigated by the United States Border Patrol, with the lead investigator working from the Beecher Falls Border Patrol Station.  Acting United States Attorney Jonathan A. Ophardt commended Border Patrol’s investigative efforts. “Cross-border smuggling by organized criminal enterprises and their clandestine exportation of large quantities of cash compromises our national security and undermines our relations with international partners.  The United States Attorney’s Office, working with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, will continue to prioritize the investigation and prosecution of traffickers who profit from unregulated black markets.”

Cohen was represented by Assistant Federal Public Defender Steven Barth.  The prosecutor was Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Lasher.