February 08, 2019 - 12:37 PM
MONTPELIER, Vt. - Two men have been indicted on federal charges that they brought crack cocaine to Vermont in exchange for firearms intended for use in a "war" in Boston that one of the men vowed to win, according to court documents.
Federal court documents say John Guerrero and Darwin Medina, of South Boston, were indicted Thursday in U.S. District Court in Burlington.
Lawyers for Guerrero and Medina did not return calls Friday seeking comment.
A criminal complaint filed in the case last month said five of the guns were recovered by police in the Boston area and some have been matched to shootings in South Boston, but the documents did not provide the details of those shootings.
At least some of the firearms were taken to the Joyce Hayes Way neighbourhood of South Boston where the two men lived.
The indictment of Guerrero and Medina, who told people in Vermont they were members of the Latin Kings street gang, came after a number of people from northwestern Vermont were charged in September with making about 30 gun purchases on behalf of two men originally identified in court documents as "Target A" and "Target B."
Kraig LaPorte, a spokesman for the Vermont office of the United States Attorney, confirmed Friday that Guerrero and Medina were targets A and B.
The documents said that between November 2017 and March of 2018 the two men travelled between Boston and northwestern Vermont where they gave locals money to buy the firearms for them from local gun shops.
One of the Vermonters who allegedly bought guns for the two told investigators that "Guerrero told him that he wanted the firearms because 'there is a war going on in Boston' and 'we are gonna win the war,'" according to the documents.
The same Vermonter told investigators Guerrero used a tool to grind the serial numbers off the guns. But the documents say police in Boston were able to restore the serial numbers for a number of the guns and determine they were purchased in Vermont.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019