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Two men plead innocent to multiple charges in heroin bust

MIDDLEBURY — A Philadelphia man and a Burlington man both pleaded innocent on Tuesday in Addison Superior Court’s Criminal Division to heroin sales and trafficking charges that stemmed from their Monday arrest in Ferrisburgh by Vergennes police, a bust made with assistance from Vermont State and Bristol police.
Todd Green, 23, of Philadelphia pleaded innocent to a felony charge of heroin trafficking, for which he faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine; a felony charge of selling heroin, for which he faces up to 20 years and a $1 million fine; and a misdemeanor charge of providing false testimony to a police officer with the intent to implicate another, for which he could be imprisoned a year and fined $1,000.
Teiontay J. Braxton, 33, of Burlington pleaded innocent to a felony charge of selling heroin, for which he faces up to 20 years and a $1 million fine, and a misdemeanor charge of possession of less than two ounces of marijuana, for which he could be imprisoned for six months and fined up to $500.
According to court officials, both men were held after their arraignments at the Marble Valley Correctional Center in Rutland for lack of $50,000 bail.
According to a Vergennes police press release and court documents, the two men were arrested on Monday at a Ferrisburgh traffic stop on Route 7 after police made what they described as “a controlled buy” of heroin in the Vermont Agency of Transportation’s Route 22A Park and Ride Lot on the Ferrisburgh-Vergennes boundary.
According to Vergennes Police Chief George Merkel, Green and Braxton were passengers in the car that police stopped on Route 7. After that traffic stop, police said they seized 266 bags of heroin, almost nine grams of marijuana and $905 of cash.
More details emerged when affidavits were made public after Green’s and Braxton’s arraignments.
According to affidavits filed by Vergennes Police Detective Jason Ouellette, he and other Vergennes and Bristol officers arranged for an informant to buy 40 bags of heroin from Braxton in the VTrans lot and gave the informant $600 in marked money to do so. The informant told police he had purchased heroin from Braxton “multiple times in the past.”
Police observed the alleged contact between the informant and the suspects at about 10:15 p.m. on Monday, and shortly afterward pulled the car over, made the arrests and took Green, Braxton, another passenger and the car owner to the VSP barracks in New Haven.
There, police said Green misidentified himself, and they discovered there was an outstanding Pennsylvania warrant in his name “for Dangerous Drugs.”
Police allege they also found the $600 in marked bills in Green’s possession, and police said they also found 261 bags of heroin in a shopping bag belonging to him and another five bags in a toilet. Police also allege they found 6.6 grams of marijuana on Braxton at that time, and another bag of the drug weighing 2.2 grams in the car.
Police questioned and released the two other men in the car. One said he had been “driving Teiontay … around Chittenden County where Todd would have Teiontay sell heroin for him.”
The Vergennes police press release said further charges are possible on one of the car’s other occupants.
Merkel said the three law enforcement agencies had been working hard together on the case prior to the arrests.
“It was the result of an ongoing investigation,” he said.
In recent months, Vergennes and Vermont State police have also cooperated in major heroin arrests in Leicester and Starksboro and another bust in Ferrisburgh.
Andy Kirkaldy may be reached at [email protected].

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