Police: Traffic stop yields 2000 bags of heroin

Two men are facing trafficking charges after police in Chester said they found more than 2,000 bags of heroin during a routine traffic stop on Chester Road.

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http://www.vermonttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/RH/20161223/NEWS02/161229814 Published December 23, 2016 in the Rutland Herald Police: Traffic stop yields 2000 bags of heroin By ERIC FRANCIS WHITE RIVER JUNCTION – Two men are facing trafficking charges after police in Chester said they found more than 2,000 bags of heroin during a routine traffic stop on Chester Road. Timothy Carleton, 22, of Cavendish and his passenger, Marc Ortega, 18, of Jersey City, New Jersey, were both held for lack of bail Wednesday after they pleaded not guilty in White River Junction criminal court to felony heroin trafficking and possession of cocaine. If convicted, they could face up to 35 years in prison. Chester Police Officer Ryan Prince said in an affidavit said the silver 2003 Honda Civic that Carleton was driving caught his attention because it was missing the front license plate. He pulled up behind it in the parking lot of Green Mountain Classics auto repair shop and turned on his blue lights, Prince wrote. “I observed the two occupants get out of the vehicle and attempt to walk away (but) I yelled out the window for them to get back into the vehicle and they both complied,” Prince wrote. Although Carleton was driving, Ortega claimed the vehicle was his and that he had recently purchased it in Vermont, the affidavit said. The men agreed to a search of the car and told Prince there was “nothing in it,” police said. Ortega also said, “I don’t think the trunk works,” according to the affidavit, but Prince had no trouble opening it. The men then denied owning the backpacks found in the trunk. One of the backpacks contained 2,000 bags of heroin and about 12 grams of what appeared to be crack cocaine, police said. During processing at the Springfield police station, Carleton voluntarily turned over 12 more bags of heroin he had hidden in his underwear, according to the affidavit. Public defender Mike Shane questioned whether the state could ultimately prove that Carleton was responsible for the heroin that was seized, since it was not his car. Shane noted that Carleton works full time for a window and door manufacturer in Springfield and that his girlfriend is expecting a child soon, factors which ultimately led Judge Theresa DiMauro to set bail at $5,000, half of what the state had requested. Ortega is awaiting trial in New Jersey on a weapons-related charge. As a result of his minimal ties to Vermont, his bail was set at $10,000.