North Springfield man allegedly sold heroin with kids present

A North Springfield man is facing drug dealing charges after he and his girlfriend allegedly arranged transactions over Facebook Messenger and then allegedly invited a buyer into their apartment while two young children were present in order to pick up heroin laced with Fentanyl.

www.dailyuv.com    

Springfield man allegedly sold heroin with kids present Drug Task Force sent in a cooperating informant Wednesday, June 21, 2017 Eric Francis Vermont News Subscribe WHITE RIVER JUNCTION - A North Springfield man is facing drug dealing charges after he and his girlfriend allegedly arranged transactions over Facebook Messenger and then allegedly invited a buyer into their apartment while two young children were present in order to pick up heroin laced with Fentanyl. Tevon Gray, 24, pleaded innocent this week to three felony counts of selling heroin and to a misdemeanor charge of retail theft before he was released from the Windsor County Courthouse in downtown White River Junction on pre-trial conditions. One of those conditions was a court order that Gray not go into Joe’s Discount Beverages while his cases are pending. Detectives with the Southern Vermont Drug Task Force said that a cooperating informant made three “controlled buys” from Gray’s residence on Northfield Drive back in November and December, according to documents filed with the court. The same informant told task force members that they’d previously purchased heroin from Gray a handful of times over the course of the past three years, Detective Trooper Daniel Bennett wrote in his affidavit. Bennett said several detectives watched as the informant stopped by Gray’s apartment and purchased a ten bag “bundle” of heroin from him for a hundred dollars. Bennett said the individual heroin bags that the informant turned over had the street-brand “Jungle” stamped on them along with a red tiger logo and he noted “heroin packaging with this stamp had been previously tested (the same week) by the Drug Task Force and tested positive for the presence of Fentanyl.” The detective said two follow-up purchases in December took place while Gray’s girlfriend Jennifer Aldrich, 29, and two young children were present in the apartment and that during the third and final transaction it was only Aldrich and the children who were home and she allegedly collected the money and gave the bundle of heroin to the informant, saying that Gray had just stepped out to go to the store for a few minutes. Court officials said this week that no charges have yet been filed against Aldrich, although detectives did identify her as one of the potential targets of the Drug Tasks Force’s investigation in their affidavits. Gray was also charged with a May shoplifting incident at Joe’s Discount Beverage in Springfield where Springfield Police Officer Anthony Leonard wrote in an affidavit that on a store surveillance system Gray can be “seen picking up a bottle (of Captain Morgan rum) from the shelf and placing it down inside his pants along the right front side. Gray then pays for a second bottle he picked up and leaves the store after paying for the one bottle.” Officer Leonard wrote in an affidavit filed with the court. Officer Leonard said that when he caught up with Gray and interviewed him about the reported theft, “Tevon told me that he stole a bottle of alcohol. (Gray) said that he has been having a rough time lately with child custody issues involving the Department of Children and Families. He told me that he only had enough money for the one bottle so he took the other.” Gray faces a maximum potential penalty of up to 30 years in prison if he were to be convicted of all the felony heroin sales charges now pending against him. Vermont News can be contacted at vermontnews802@gmail.com