New York men charged with drug trafficking, conspiracy | The Bennington Banner

By Tiffany Tan, Bennington Banner

BENNINGTON – Two New York men pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of drug trafficking and conspiracy. Each apparently pointed to the other for carrying illegal drugs that police found in their vehicle.

Samuel McCants, 34, and Richard Rivera Jr., 47, are both charged with trafficking fentanyl, conspiracy to traffic fentanyl and trafficking crack cocaine in Bennington County.

Each of the state felony offense carries a maximum 30-year sentence and/or fine $1 million fine.

A Vermont State Police sergeant, in a sworn statement, said he came upon McCants and Rivera late Saturday afternoon while the men’s van was stopped along state Route 7 in Manchester with a flat tire. They were accompanied by a 13-year-old boy.

While talking to the men, Sgt. Lucas Hall noted that Rivera “appeared to be overly anxious,” rocking in his seat, had trouble maintaining a steady tone of voice and his hands were trembling. McCants’s hands also trembled and his tone seemed unsure when answering questions.

A background check showed McCants, from Catskill, N.Y., had several recent drug offenses.

When the sergeant asked Rivera pointblank if there were drugs in the vehicle, he said there was none as far as he knew. But Rivera added that McCants had put a black bag in the car’s center console that “might be drugs.”

A search of the center console revealed a tightly wrapped black bag, which contained nearly 68 grams of crack cocaine and 33 grams of fentanyl, Hall’s affidavit reads. Hall also found a cigarette box with six bags of an unknown white, powdery substance.

When the men were later interviewed by another state police officer, McCants said he didn’t bring any drugs into the van. He described Rivera, of Freehold, N.Y. as a “drug addict,” saying he believed the illegal drugs belonged to his companion, according to an affidavit by Trooper Thomas Sandberg.

McCants added that if he had been the one transporting illegal drugs, he would have hidden them inside his body or inside the body of a female companion.

McCants and Rivera were charged also with reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor, in relation to the teenage boy’s presence in their vehicle.

The boy, later interviewed with his mother, echoed Rivera’s statement to the sergeant: he was just giving McCants a ride to Rutland. After the van’s tire blew, the boy said McCants called someone to say he was “dirty” and needed someone to pick him up and get him out of there.

The men are detained at the Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility in Rutland after each failing to pay a $10,000 cash or surety bond, according to court records.

McCants is being represented by defense attorney Frederick Bragdon; Rivera by Jonathan Ward. Their next hearing at the Bennington County Superior Court is scheduled for June 3.

Meanwhile, police said the items seized from their van were sent to the state forensic laboratory for further testing.

Tiffany Tan can be reached at ttan@benningtonbanner.com, @tiffgtan at Twitter and 802-447-7567 ext. 122.