United States Drug Enforcement Administration

APR 03 - BURLINGTON, Vt. - Michael J. Ferguson 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 April 3, 2017, Johnathan Goodwin, 22, of Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison after his guilty plea to charges that he conspired to distribute heroin. U.S. District Court Judge William K. Sessions III also ordered that Goodwin serve three years of supervised release after his prison term.

According to court records, in June of 2016, Goodwin was bringing quantities of heroin and cocaine base from New York City to Vermont via bus in order to distribute those drugs. On June 28, 2016, agents from the DEA arrested Goodwin and his co-defendant, Annette Dupree, as they exited a bus from New York City in Burlington. From the pair, DEA seized approximately six ounces of heroin and one ounce of cocaine base. Goodwin has been in federal custody since.

For his crime, Goodwin faced a statutory maximum term of 20 years in prison. The United States Sentencing Guidelines, which are advisory, recommended that Goodwin receive a prison term between 41 and 51 months. The government argued for a sentence within this range. The defense advocated for a more lenient sentence. In determining that a 21-month sentence was appropriate, Judge Sessions considered the severity of the offense, as well as Goodwin’s difficult childhood and relatively minor criminal record, among other factors.

Acting United States Attorney Eugenia Cowles commended the efforts of DEA and the Burlington Police Department for their work in this investigation. Acting United States Attorney Cowles noted that this case is part of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Vermont Heroin Initiative, which is a coordinated effort by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to combat heroin distribution in Vermont.