Couple sentenced on heroin, bath salts charges

A Springfield couple will spend more than four years in federal prison for bringing heroin and “bath salts” into Vermont.

The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Jesse Emerson, 36, of Springfield, Vermont was sentenced today to 55 months in federal prison based on his conviction of conspiracy to distribute alpha-pyrrolidinopentiophenone (a-PVP) over an eight-month period in 2014 and 2015. Chief Judge Christina Reiss also ordered that Emerson serve a five-year period of supervised release following his incarceration. On March 21, 2016, Emerson’s wife, Eugenia Emerson, 35, was sentenced to 49 months in prison and three years of supervised release based on her conviction of conspiracy to distribute a-PVP and possession with intent to distribute heroin.

According to court records, on February 1, 2014, the Vermont State Police stopped Ms. Emerson on I-91 as she was returning from picking up heroin in Hartford, Connecticut. Emerson was traveling with her two minor children at the time of the car stop. Troopers conducted a consent search of the vehicle, finding approximately 690 bags of heroin hidden under a seat. Emerson subsequently admitted to agents that in 2013 and 2014 she had been involved in heroin trafficking with a group of individuals known as the “Jersey Boys.” Ms. Emerson acknowledged making a dozen trips during that time period, which resulted in the transportation of approximately 28,000 bags of heroin from New Jersey to Vermont.

Within months of the February 1, 2014 car stop, Emerson became involved in a conspiracy with her husband and others to import a-PVP, a synthetic drug commonly known as “bath salts,” for distribution in the Springfield, Vermont area. The scheme involved the Emersons ordering a-PVP on-line from a supplier in China. The Emersons and others wired payment to the Chinese supplier, who would in turn ship kilogram quantities of the drug directly to addresses in the Springfield area. Once the a-PVP arrived in Springfield, Jesse Emerson and an associate distributed it in neighboring Vermont and New Hampshire communities. The Emersons were responsible for the importation of approximately 12 kilograms of a-PVP to Vermont.

On February 4, 2015, a confidential informant purchased 100 bags of heroin from Ms. Emerson. Law enforcement executed federal search warrants for Emerson’s Bellows Falls home and her Lincoln Navigator on February 6, 2015, where they recovered a Ruger pistol, numerous cell phones and laptop computers, drug paraphernalia, empty heroin bags, and documentation related to bath salts shipments. A simultaneous search warrant at Jesse Emerson’s residence yielded drug paraphernalia, several laptop computers, a rifle, a 9mm pistol, a shotgun, and a muzzleloader. The Emersons were arrested on February 6, 2015 and have remained detained since that time.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Vermont Drug Task Force, the Springfield Police Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the United States Postal Inspection Service, with assistance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin J. Doyle handled the prosecution for the government. Jesse Emerson was represented by David J. Williams, Esq., and Eugenia Emerson was represented by Richard R. Goldborough, Esq.

Eugenia Emerson

www.rutlandherald.com    

Couple sentenced on heroin, bath salts charges By ERIC FRANCIS CORRESPONDENT | April 04,2016 SPRINGFIELD — A Springfield couple will spend more than four years in federal prison for bringing heroin and “bath salts” into Vermont. Jesse Emerson, 36, was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court to 55 months for conspiracy to distribute bath salts. Chief Judge Christina Reiss also ordered that Emerson serve five years on supervised release after his incarceration. Emerson’s wife, Eugenia Emerson, 35, had already been sentenced late last month to 49 months on charges of conspiracy to distribute bath salts and heroin. She was also ordered to spend three years on probation after her release. Eugenia Emerson confessed to federal agents that she had brought approximately 28,000 bags of heroin back into Vermont while making a dozen trips down to New Jersey and Connecticut, using her connection to the gang known around Springfield as the “Jersey Boys.” Eugenia had already come to authorities attention in February 2014 when the Vermont State Police stopped her as she drove back up Interstate 91 with her kids in a Lincoln Navigator and troopers seized 690 bags of heroin troopers said they found hidden underneath one of her children’s car seats. Months later, the Emersons became involved in a scheme to import bath salts through the mail from a supplier in China who shipped the amphetamine-like chemicals in plastic pails to an address in New Hampshire, where federal agents observed Jesse Emerson traveling to pick them up. “The Emersons and others wired payment to the Chinese supplier, who would in turn ship kilogram quantities of the drug directly to addresses in the Springfield area,” prosecutors wrote in a press release issued Friday. It added: “Jesse Emerson and an associate distributed it in neighboring Vermont and New Hampshire communities. The Emersons were responsible for the importation of approximately 12 kilograms of (bath salts) into Vermont.” The pair were arrested in October 2014 during what began as a routine traffic stop on I-91. Trooper Ryan Wood said at the time that the presence of police appeared to be making Jesse Emerson nervous. “(He) was breathing heavily and his chest was rising and falling in a rapid and exaggerated manner,” Wood recalled. Wood said a search of the vehicle turned up $7,637 in cash rolled up in various bundles, a hundred empty clear plastic bags, a digital scale, butane lighters, a bottle of assorted pills and several baggies and a glass jar containing a total of almost 90 grams of bath salts. As the federal investigations continued, a confidential informant bought 100 bags of heroin from Eugenia Emerson on Feb. 4, 2015. Law enforcement searched her Bellows Falls home and her Lincoln Navigator two days later, recovering a Ruger pistol, numerous cell phones and laptops, drug paraphernalia, empty heroin bags, and documentation related to bath salts shipments. A simultaneous search warrant at Jesse Emerson’s residence yielded drug paraphernalia, several more laptops, a rifle, a 9mm pistol, a shotgun, and a muzzleloader.