BENNINGTON — Court documents related to a recent plea deal around an illegal gun and drug case in Bennington highlighted the ways that illicit drugs are exchanged for guns in a pipeline between Bennington County and neighboring states like Massachusetts.
Nelson Prew, 32, of Bennington, was charged over the past few years with several serious felonies and misdemeanors, including narcotics possession, giving false information to a law enforcement officer, DUI under the influence of drugs, and identity theft, court records show. In November 2024, Prew was charged with six counts of unlicensed firearms transfers to an unlicensed firearms transferee with no licensed dealer present.
On Wednesday, in a Bennington courtroom, Prew pleaded guilty to three counts: one of DUI, a second of false information to a police officer, and a third of narcotics possession. In exchange for his guilty pleas, prosecutors in the case dismissed several other counts. Six of those counts, all related to illegal guns, were dismissed.
A related case, however, details a conspiracy to bring illegal drugs into Bennington County in exchange for guns purchased in Vermont and brought back to Massachusetts. In a sweeping investigation over several months, law enforcement documented an alleged conspiracy.
According to a 13-page affidavit highlighting the investigation by the Vermont Drug Task Force — which is made up of law enforcement organizations including the Vermont State Police, the Bennington Police Department, the Bennington County Sheriff’s Office, and the Department of Homeland Security — a registered, confidential informant with VDTF told investigators about several individuals who were reportedly selling narcotics from a known drug residence in Bennington. Many of those individuals had ties to the Springfield and Holyoke areas of Massachusetts.
In October 2023, VDTF made a controlled purchase of drugs, using the confidential informant, allegedly from an individual named Bryan Kenyon, at a Bennington location on Depot Street, according to court documents. That November, Kenyon was located in a car with two other individuals, and all were taken into custody. While in custody, Kenyon permitted investigators to search his cellphone. Inside the phone data, police found messages linking several individuals from both Massachusetts and Bennington with conversations dealing with illegal drugs, the affidavit states. Police also found photographs of various firearms.
According to the affidavit, individuals involved in the investigation reportedly included Ashley Wicks, Shawn Bulson, Richard Bump, Eric Sardo, Shavonne Doucette, Anthony Gonzalez, Anthony “Ace” Alonzo-Alomar, Christopher Daugherty, Kyle Winnie, Jill Lebert, Kiona Kinney, Alec Diaz (also known as Alex Diaz-Garcia), and others using aliases.
Past court records show that several of these individuals were known to law enforcement due to prior professional engagements and through links to crimes committed in and around Bennington County, including the murder of a Massachusetts teenager, Isaiah Rodriguez, in Danby in 2022. Court records also show that some of those individuals were also linked to gang-related, violent crimes in Bennington County in the recent past, including a shooting on Twitchell Hill Road in Shaftsbury in October 2023.
When police inquired about the gun photos, Kenyon reportedly told police that “those are guns that are for sale," according to the affidavit.
Kenyon allegedly told police there were “more guns purchased than in the photos,” court documents continue, and that several would end up in the hands of individuals from Massachusetts, and that “law enforcement needs to be worried about them.” He also told police he was present for eight of the firearms being sold to an individual known as “Q,” and that the firearms were sold at the Depot Street address for $5,000, and that some of the firearms had already made their way to Massachusetts, the affidavit states.
Police said in court documents that they obtained a search warrant to enter the apartment on Depot Street to seek evidence. One of the individuals living there, who had allowed the Massachusetts individuals to stay at his residence, spoke with police, telling them he had come home early one day to find 15 to 20 firearms in his apartment, including AR-style assault rifles, pistols, with magazines that “stuck out” from the bottom. The resident advised police that Nelson Prew set up the gun deal, according to the affidavit. The resident also advised that one of the individuals involved in the gun sale, someone known as “Zapata,” was the individual interested in purchasing the firearms and was currently staying in Pownal with a drug supplier.
The investigation into Kenyon’s phone and the Facebook accounts of other individuals believed to be involved, including Prew, revealed multiple communications dealing with drug sales and firearms, the affidavit continues. For instance, on October 27, 2023, a conversation between Diaz and Prew was held, during which photos of different firearms were shown, with Drew allegedly inquiring about the prices. There are also several references to trading drugs to Vermont for guns to be brought back to Massachusetts, according to the affidavit.
On Wednesday, Diaz was arrested during a raid in Pownal, police said. He has been sought since at least May 14 when a federal grand jury returned a six-count indictment charging five individuals, records show. He is charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and crack cocaine and having guns to help his drug trafficking business, according to the indictment.
Editor's note: Read more in "Fifth defendant picked up on federal indictment," also on A1 of today's edition of the Banner.
“The Bennington County Sheriff's Department is actively working in close collaboration with local, state, and federal law enforcement partners, including our State and Federal Prosecutors' Office, to address ongoing narcotics and firearms-related investigations in our communities," said Bennington County Sheriff James Gulley, whose department participated in Thursday’s raid. “These efforts are part of our continued commitment to ensuring everyone remains healthy and safe. By combining resources, intelligence, and expertise across jurisdictions, we are making significant progress in identifying and dismantling criminal networks that pose a threat to public safety. Our top priority is the health and safety of our communities. By working together across all levels, we are more effective in removing dangerous narcotics and illegal firearms from our communities.”
The Banner will update this story as more information becomes available.