A wanted federal suspect, who authorities say was living at residences in Orleans County residences was ordered jailed

A wanted federal suspect, who authorities say was living at residences in Orleans County residences when two drug-related homicides were reported over four months, was ordered jailed on Monday. Holly Fields Jr., 55, pleaded not guilty in federal court to a charge of operating a drug house in Troy with his daughter, Bryanna Rooney, 29, and her husband, Thomas P. Rooney, 34, both of Troy, between early December 2023 and Feb. 7.  The trio is charged as owners of a home at 7021 Vermont 100, where they allowed the residence to be used for the unlawful manufacturing, storing, and distribution of both cocaine and fentanyl.  Fields denied a charge of knowingly and intentionally conspiring with others both in Vermont and elsewhere to distribute cocaine and fentanyl,  and to possess both drugs with intent to distribute them since at least early December 2023 and through Feb. 7. The drug charges stem from an investigation from the fatal shooting of Kayla Wright, 29, of Derby, who was shot multiple times.  Fields was among those living at the Troy home in February when Wright disappeared and was later found dead. Court records show Fields also was living earlier at a residence on Farrar Road in Newport Town when Wilmer Rogriguez, 27, of Hartford, Conn. was found fatally shot in October. The home also appeared to be used “as a place to store, prepare, distribute and use drugs.” “Drug-related homicides occurred at both residences when the defendant was living there – first in October 2023 and then in February 2024,” Attorney Lasher wrote in asking for the detention of Fields.  The Vermont State Police, the Vermont Drug Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Orleans County Sheriff’s Department have all been working the case.