Marco Antonio Lam Peralta, Heroin Trafficking, Vermont 2015

A federal grand jury in Rutland has added a conspiracy charge against Marco Antonio Lam Peralta and Diego Walther Anibal Mejia Paredes in connection with a heroin trafficking case that authorities say began in Guatemala and ended in Manchester Center, Vermont.

The Second Superseding Indictment, handed down last week, accuses Lam Peralta and Mejia Paredes of conspiring from July to October 2015 to distribute more than a kilogram of heroin. If convicted, each defendant could face a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and up to life behind bars.

The case against the two defendants began in October 2015 when Customs officials discovered a large shipment of heroin, weighing over 40 kilograms (88 pounds), hidden in Guatemalan nutritional supplement packaging. The package was sent from Guatemala and addressed to a Mexican restaurant in Manchester Center, Vermont.

Agents from the Department of Homeland Security, working with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Vermont State Police, arranged for a controlled delivery of the package to the restaurant, where Mejia Peralta was waiting to take delivery. Court filings suggest that while Mejia Peralta waited for the shipment to arrive, he was in phone contact with Lam Peralta, who contacted the shipping company twice.

Further investigation revealed seven previous shipments, similar in size, weight, and customs declarations to the heroin-containing package, that were sent to addresses associated with Lam Peralta in the Manchester area from Guatemala in the three months preceding the October 2015 arrest. Upon his arrest, Mejia Paredes possessed a cell phone that contained messages between him and Lam Peralta discussing one of the earlier shipments.

Lam Peralta has filed motions with the United States District Court for the District of Vermont seeking to sever his case from Mejia Paredes’ and the suppression of his post-arrest statements to law enforcement. He has also filed a motion asking the court to reconsider its previous decision that he be detained.

AUSA Michael Drescher is handling the prosecution, while Lam Peralta is represented by Ernest M. Allen, III, of Burlington, and Mejia Paredes is represented by Steven Barth, of Burlington. No trial date has been set, and both defendants are being held in the custody of the United States Marshal pending trial.

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