The lawyer representing a West Rutland man, an assistant U.S. attorney and a federal judge all congratulated the man on the progress he’s made since he was indicted in October 2017 for allowing an out-of-state drug dealer to use his home as a base.
Richard Webster, 61, of West Rutland, was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to time served. He will be under supervision for up to a year.
Webster served 26 months in jail after being arraigned in November 2017.
He pleaded guilty in February 2018 to making his Harrison Avenue home available a for manufacturing, storing, distributing or using a controlled substance. Within about a week, his case was referred to the federal drug court, which is overseen by U.S. District Court Judge Geoffrey Crawford, who was the sentencing judge on Wednesday.
“It’s a pleasure to see you again,” Crawford said to Webster. “Usually a sentencing hearing is kinda sad. Yours is not. It’s one more step in your recovery.”
Crawford reminded Webster that the agreement when Webster entered the federal drug court program was that if he successfully made it to the end, he would be sentenced to time served. But if he had not complied with the program’s requirements, Webster would have faced a sentence of 30 to 37 months in federal prison.
“You did yourself a great service by changing the direction of your life and being successful in drug court,” Crawford said.
A sentencing memo filed by Burlington attorney David Williams, who represented Webster, said that since his client was released from the treatment program at Valley Vista in December 2017, all of Webster’s drug tests were clean.
During the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Williams described Webster as a “good guy who worked hard all his life.”
“(Webster) got himself into a situation, but he turned it around,” he said.
The government’s sentencing memo, written by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Perella, was only one paragraph.
“In light of (Webster’s) successful graduation from the Rutland Drug Court, (Webster) has earned a time-served sentence. (Webster) had proved to the court that he can be a responsible member of the community and is on a steady path to recovery. (Webster) deserves many congratulations for turning his life around,” Perella wrote.
In March 2018, the office of the U.S. Attorney for Vermont said Webster allowed Richard Torruellas to stay at his home during the day. Torruellas stored heroin and cocaine base and coordinated his trafficking from Webster’s home during the day.
Torruellas, also known as “Scoobs,” and Francesco Escribano, also known as “Brisco,” were known collectively as the Jersey Boys. Torruellas and Escribano used a Poultney man’s home at night as well.
Torruellas provided heroin to Webster in return for using Webster’s home.
Both Torruellas and Escribano pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to distribute heroin and crack cocaine and were sentenced to serve 54 months in federal prison.
Asked if there was anything he wanted to tell the court, Webster said he hoped to visit family in Florida and Texas but was concerned that his year of probation would prevent it.
Crawford told Webster that he could apply to end probation early once he was halfway, or six months, into it. He said he didn’t want to stand in the way of Webster visiting his family and didn’t believe the Department of Corrections would want to either.
Crawford asked Webster what he thought had allowed him to turn his life around. Webster mentioned the 26 days he spent in jail and the two years he spent as part of the drug court program.
“Something set me straight, I guess,” Webster said.
patrick.mcardle @rutlandherald.com
