United States Drug Enforcement Administration

(BURLINGTON, Vt - .) John J. Arvanitis, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England and The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that on May 2, 2013, Luis Torres, 40, of New Bedford, Massachusetts was sentenced to 100 months imprisonment by Judge J. Garvan Murtha in United States District Court in Brattleboro. Judge Murtha also sentenced Torres to four years of supervised release.

On August 9, 2012, the federal grand jury indicted Torres for conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine between April 2011 and April 2012. Torres pled guilty to the charged offense on December 11, 2012.

According to court records, DEA and the Vermont State Police conducted seven controlled purchases of cocaine from Matthew Burt at Champlain Valley Auto in Burlington, Vermont during January, February, and March 2012. Law enforcement subsequently learned that a courier was regularly transporting substantial quantities of cocaine by rental car from the source of supply in Massachusetts to Vermont. Once the cocaine arrived in Vermont, Burt and co-defendant Michael Riley would process it and prepare it for sale. On the evening of April 4, 2012, law enforcement intercepted a rental car as it arrived at Champlain Valley Auto from Massachusetts with approximately a kilogram of cocaine. Investigators subsequently identified Luis Torres of New Bedford, Massachusetts as the supplier of cocaine. Torres was arrested on July 27, 2012, and acknowledged his role as the supplier of cocaine to Riley and others in Vermont. Torres further acknowledged that he received $43,000 for the kilogram recovered by law enforcement on April 4-5, 2012 in Burlington.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Vermont State Police, with the assistance of the Williston Police Department.