The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Donald Perkins, 29, of Rutland, was sentenced to forty-eight month’s imprisonment by United States District Judge J. Garvan Murtha. The term of imprisonment will be followed by a three-year period of supervised release by the U.S. Probation Office. Perkins previously pled guilty to distribution of fentanyl in the Rutland area. The maximum sentence for this offense is twenty year’s imprisonment and a $1,000,000 fine.
According to court records in the spring of 2016 Perkins distributed approximately 88 grams of fentanyl in the Rutland area though Perkins claimed he thought he was only selling heroin. At the time Perkins committed this offense, he was also on federal supervised release for a 2011 conviction for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Perkins served a sentence of 60-month’s imprisonment for that prior federal conviction. The 48-month sentence imposed by Judge Murtha includes a 12-month consecutive sentence for the supervised release violation.
This case was investigated by the Vermont State Police Drug Task Force, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The United States is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Perella and Perkins is represented by Robert Behrens, Esq. of Burlington, Vermont.