More heroin arrests in Springfield

A drug transaction on the sidewalk on Valley Street last week has led to the arrest of two Springfield men, one of whom is now in the process of being returned to Florida to face allegations of felony child neglect.

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Published April 9, 2016 in the Rutland Herald More heroin arrests in Springfield By ERIC FRANCIS WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A drug transaction on the sidewalk on Valley Street last week has led to the arrest of two Springfield men, one of whom is now in the process of being returned to Florida to face allegations of felony child neglect. Keith Destromp Jr., 40, pleaded guilty on Friday to a misdemeanor heroin possession charge, for which he received a one-to-two day sentence, with credit for the two days he’d already been in police custody awaiting arraignment. That legal maneuver cleared the way for Destromp to waive extradition to Florida, where authorities in Santa Rosa County have had a warrant out for his arrest since 2012. He was ordered held without bail until Florida picks him up, which is expected to happen in the next 10 days. Florida officials allege that in June of 2012, Destromp was passed out in his trailer while a then four-year old girl who was in his care was observed by several witnesses wandering the trailer park unattended for hours at a time and alarming neighbors with her “very dirty” and unkempt appearance. Destromp allegedly admitted to Florida Department of Children and Families investigators that he’d been smoking marijuana and using opiates while he was supposed to be watching the child. Officials turned the girl over to her mother and charged Destromp with felony child neglect, which in Florida carries a potential one-to-five year sentence if he were to be convicted. Springfield Police Officer Shaun Smith wrote in his affidavit that he noticed both Destromp and fellow Springfield resident Thomas Daniels, 43, on Valley Street early last Thursday afternoon because Daniels had just left the “known drug house” on the corner of Valley and Main streets. Daniels was seen on the porch of that house with resident Eddie Cruz before walking up the sidewalk to meet Destromp. “Between Perkins Deli and Pleasant Street, it looked as (though) Destromp and Daniels handed something off to each other,” Smith recalled in his report. Officer Smith and Detective Patrick Call then walked up to the pair and began questioning them as to what they were doing and what they had in their pockets, Detective Call wrote in his own affidavit, which was also filed with the court. Call said that Daniels initially claimed to have found a bag of heroin on the sidewalk, but soon after he allegedly admitted to having just purchased two bags from Destromp. Destromp also admitted to having two bags of heroin, Officer Smith wrote, adding that Destromp then also handed them over to him without incident. Daniels also made an appearance in court in White River Junction on Friday, where he pleaded innocent to a felony count of selling heroin as well as to misdemeanor counts of heroin possession and providing false information to a police officer, charges for which he faces a maximum potential penalty of up to 7 years in jail if he were to be convicted of all of them. The arrests of the two men came just hours before Springfield police obtained a search warrant and raided the apartment building Destromp had been seen leaving. The raid resulted in the arrest of Eddie Cruz, 54, who police said is also known locally by the alias “Eddie Gomez,” on charges of felony heroin trafficking and possession of crack cocaine and narcotics, which Cruz pleaded innocent to on Friday. http://www.vermonttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/RH/20160409/NEWS01/160409566 http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20160409/NEWS01/160409566