BURLINGTON — The federal public defender for a man indicted in an attempt to smuggle 88 pounds of heroin into Vermont from Guatemala is asking the judge for more time to prepare his client’s defense.
Diego Paredes, 33, was arrested in October. Authorities say he accepted delivery of a shipment sent to a Manchester business that contained two large packages of heroin disguised as Incaparina, a food supplement made from flour and soy.
Federal agents say the heroin had a street value of more than $5 million and was enough to make 1 million individual doses. The seizure may be one of the largest ever in Vermont.
It appears to be the largest in Vermont last year, based on a review of 16 news releases from the U.S. attorney’s office about the possession and distribution of heroin. The next largest heroin seizure publicized by the office involved 20,000 individual doses.
Customs and Border Protection agents seized the package in Miami three days before officers say Paredes, who is a Guatemalan citizen, entered the U.S. from Guatemala through JFK International Airport on a visitor visa.
Police conducted a controlled delivery of the package, which officers say Paredes signed for, placed in a car and drove off with before being pulled over and arrested. He initially said he did not know what was in the packages, but later said they contained a food product, according to authorities. Paredes said he was not aware the packages contained drugs.
Paredes has been held since his arrest at the Northwestern Correctional Facility in St. Albans. His attorney Steven Barth, with the federal public defender’s office, filed a motion Monday requesting a 60-day extension of the deadline to file pretrial motions. That deadline was originally Monday. The U.S. attorney’s office did not oppose the extension.
As of Tuesday afternoon, U.S. District Court Judge William Sessions had not ruled on Barth’s request for an extension.
Barth, who could not be reached for comment, wrote in his motion that to fully investigate the charges against his client he needs more time and may have to travel outside the U.S.
In addition, his work has been delayed because Paredes speaks little English, so they depend on interpreter services that are difficult to schedule. Some of the evidence prosecutors have turned over during discovery are phone calls in Spanish that he must review, which is also time-consuming, Barth wrote.
Barth also noted the serious nature of the charge: heroin possession with intent to distribute. It carries a mandatory 10-year minimum sentence.
