St. Albans man sentenced to 18 months in prison for selling drugs, crack cocaine – St. Albans Messenger

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BURLINGTON — Darren “Buck” Johnson, 40, of St. Albans was sentenced in U.S. District Court Friday, March 18, to serve 18 months in prison for selling crack cocaine.
Johnson was arrested for selling fentanyl-laced heroin and cocaine base, commonly known as crack cocaine, to confidential informants in late 2019 and early 2020, according to court records.
During his arrest on March 20, 2020, Burlington Police officers found $5,000 in cash and drug-trafficking paraphernalia. Johnson failed to appear for his court date after the incident, but he was later taken into custody during a traffic stop on July 18, 2021, in St. Albans, where Franklin County Sheriff’s Office deputies found him.
A search of the vehicle at the time resulted in officers seizing $8,000 in cash, crack cocaine and a handgun. Deputies determined that Johnson had obtained the firearm from a drug customer.
District Judge Geoffrey Crawford also ordered Johnson to serve three years of probation after his release, according to court information. Johnson could face additional time behind bars for a prior probation violation pending in Massachusetts.
Johnson’s case was federally prosecuted as part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. The program works by having multiple stakeholders identify the most pressing violent crime problems in communities and find solutions to address them, such as focusing enforcement on violent offenders and partnering with locally-based prevention and reentry programs.
U.S. Attorney Nikolas P. Kerest commended the efforts of both the Burlington Police Department and the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office as well as the assistance provided by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan A. Ophardt handled the prosecution. Johnson was represented by Assistant Federal Public Defender Sara Puls.
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