25 Jan Rutland man faces federal drug charge | Local News
A local man with multiple pending criminal charges, many of them drug related, is facing a federal charge for distributing fentanyl.
Police executed a search warrant in connection with the case at Margiotti’s 96 Gibson Ave. home Jan. 17. Police seized ammunition, a laptop computer, two cellphones and an external hard drive.
The search warrant was granted based on an affidavit by a Vermont State Police trooper working with the Vermont Drug Task Force.
The affidavit said the task force began to investigate Margiotti’s alleged role in distributing fentanyl in Rutland in November. The investigation involved a confidential informant who has admitted to using heroin in the past.
Police said the informant conducted three controlled buys, starting in November and as recently as Jan. 14.
After the Jan. 14 buy, the informant told police that a woman, later identified as Tara Dulaurance, 44, of Rutland, was planning to go to Andover, New York, on Jan. 16 to obtain a “large quantity of heroin” for Margiotti.
Members of the task force followed Dulaurance from Rutland to Andover and then to Franklin, New Hampshire.
Dulaurance was then followed back to Rutland County. On Route 4 in Killington, police stopped Dulaurance and took her and the man driving the car into custody. The car was also seized.
Dulaurance has been charged with possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.
The affidavit said police found a package weighing 38 grams that tested positive for fentanyl.
Dulaurance told police that she had gone from Rutland to New Hampshire to obtain heroin and fentanyl for Margiotti.
According to the affidavit, Dulaurance admitted to making four other similar trips for Margiotti within the last year but for smaller amounts of drugs.
She said she had wired $1,500 to the man she was meeting in New Hampshire to pay for the drugs. In Dulaurance’s purse, police found a receipt for the wire transfer and a handwritten note with the name, address and telephone number of the man Dulaurance met in New Hampshire.
Dulaurance told police she was making the trips in exchange for free heroin from Margiotti.
The affidavit said members of the drug task force met Margiotti on Jan. 17 as he was checking in with his parole officer in Rutland County. The affidavit does not say whether police asked him about the fentanyl distribution, but said Margiotti told them he had used heroin as recently as Jan. 16.
Margiotti was scheduled for a hearing Thursday on whether he would continue to be held without bail pending the resolution of the federal charges.
A motion filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Perella cited Margiotti’s “serious drug habit” and recent drug use as reasons to detain him. Perella pointed out Margiotti was on supervision with the Vermont Department of Corrections when the alleged crimes resulting in the federal charges were committed.
The motion said Margiotti was convicted in federal court in 1995 with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Among Margiotti’s pending charges in Rutland criminal court are two felony counts of selling less than 2.5 grams of cocaine filed in August 2017; a felony charge of negligent driving while attempting to elude police filed in July 2017; misdemeanor charges for heroin possession, cocaine possession and resisting arrest filed in September 2016; and a felony count of heroin possession, a misdemeanor charge of prescription drug possession and a misdemeanor charge of possession of stolen property from June 2016.
Margiotti has more than a dozen pending charges for violating court-ordered conditions of release.