SELECTMAN, DRUG-DEALER SENTENCED TO 13 MONTHS IN PRISON
ALBURGH: It’s been a rocky road the last couple of years for Alburgh Selectman Bernard Savage. That road takes a turn this week with a final court ruling by US District Court Judge William Sessions.
Sessions sentenced Savage, an Alburgh Selectman to 13 months, in prison for dealing drugs.
The 57-year-old Savage, and his wife, Patricia Savage, both of Alburgh, were sentenced today in the United States District Court in Burlington.
Bernard Savage, 57, sentenced to 15 months in prison, and Patricia Savage, 57, to one month in prison. Bernard was also ordered to forfeit $75,000.00 to the government, required to pay a fine of $5,000.00 and will be subject to a three-year term of supervised release upon completion of his sentence.
Judge Sessions ordered Patricia to start serving her sentence immediately. The Court ordered Bernard to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on March 7, 2017, to begin serving his sentence.
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According to court documents, in August 2014, the Vermont Drug Task Force began an investigation into Bernard Savage for his involvement in distributing powder cocaine and oxycodone. In connection with that investigation, a confidential informant working with the Task Force participated in seven controlled purchases of either oxycodone or powder cocaine from Bernard and/or his wife Patricia. Bernard’s interactions with the CI were recorded.
Bernard made statements such as, “I deal coke, I deal pills, I deal pot. I do all that shit.” “I bet you I’ve pumped out about twenty-five hundred pills in the last two weeks.” “I got pills. I got coke, I got pot. I got everything you want. I’m like a walking drugstore.”
On July 1, 2015, law enforcement executed a search warrant at the Savage residence in Alburgh which recovered, among other things, 103 firearms, cocaine, a variety of opiate pills (oxycodone, morphine, hydrocodone and Percocet), marijuana, approximately $20,000 in cash, scales, various cell phones, and the remnants of a meth lab. On September 10, 2015, a grand jury sitting in Burlington, indicted Savage with conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and cocaine, five counts of distribution of oxycodone and/or cocaine, and a count of being a user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm. The same grand jury later charged Bernard and Patricia with conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and cocaine, distribution of oxycodone and/or cocaine and possession of a firearm by a user of a controlled substance. On April 25, 2016, Savage entered into a plea agreement with the government in which he agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and oxycodone, and agreed to immediate entry of a preliminary order of forfeiture for a money judgment of $75,000, as property constituting or derived from the proceeds obtained as a result of his drug trafficking.
The case was investigated by the DEA, Vermont Drug Task Force, and the FBI.
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