RUTLAND, Vt. -- A couple described as the heroin wholesalers of Rutland and accused of using threats of death to keep their dealers in line are being held on a combined $1.75 million bail.
Victor Ortega, 25, and Jacqueline Santos, 26, both pleaded not guilty to three felony drug charges Friday in Vermont District Court. The couple, who have ties to the Springfield, Mass., area, allegedly supplied others with bags of heroin and collected the money when it was sold.
Police say Ortega and Santos had operated a large-scale drug distribution network from a rented cabin at the Edelweiss Motel on Route 4 in Mendon since January. An undercover investigation by the Rutland Police Drug Enforcement Unit led to the couple's arrest and yielded 372 bags of heroin, according to affidavits.
Ortega, who was born in Puerto Rico and had a translator at the court hearing, tried to discipline his retailers with threats, according to court documents.
Police said a Mendon couple sold heroin for Ortega and Santos, and later cooperated in the undercover operation. That couple said the alleged drug suppliers had showed them a picture of a corpse. Ortega allegedly said not to cross him, "or you will end up the same way."
The charges against Ortega and Santos, which carry a maximum of 50 years in jail and fines of $2 million, are "among the most serious this court deals with on a regular basis," Judge Nancy Corsones said.
In reviewing a list of people whom Ortega and Santos allegedly supplied with heroin, the judge said she recognized two people she sentenced for drug offenses last week.
Corsones set Ortega's bail at $750,000 after his lawyer argued that it should be $20,000. Santos's lawyer presented no bail argument; bail for her was set at $1 million.