Rutland area drug dealer jailed

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – A Massachusetts man has been sentenced to more than five and a half years in prison for drug deliveries in the Rutland area.

Federal authorities say Eddie Melendez, also known as “Bart,” was sentenced Tuesday in Burlington after previously pleading guilty to conspiring with others to distribute fentanyl and cocaine base.

According to court documents, he was the leader of an organization that transported hundreds of grams of cocaine base and thousands of bags of heroin/fentanyl from Massachusetts to the Rutland area over a nearly five-year period that ended in January. The group, which included nearly a dozen dealers, used area hotels and at least five private homes to sell the drugs.

In addition to 68 months in prison, Melendez will receive three years of supervised release.

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