Fugitive found with drugs and a gun along the international border
A Hartford, Conn. fugitive, who authorities say was found with drugs and a gun along the international border in Orleans County, is now facing federal charges in U.S. District Court in Vermont. The U. S. Border Patrol named Alexander Marcano, 30, in a criminal complaint filed Friday in federal court for carrying a firearm while involved in trafficking drugs. He also is named in a second count for knowingly and intentionally possessing fentanyl and cocaine with intent to distribute them, court records maintain. The Border Patrol said a remote sensor activated near Bear Mountain Road in North Troy alerting officers about a half mile from the international border at 3:30 a.m. on Jan. 30. “This area has recently seen a significant increase in cross-border activity, including both human and narcotics smuggling events,” Border Patrol Agent James F. Loomis said in a court affidavit. “In fact, Newport Station has observed indications of human smuggling events in this area on an almost daily basis in recent weeks, some of which resulted in interdictions and arrests,” said Loomis, who is assigned to the intelligence division. Marcano was one of two people found in a car that was stopped when the driver was acting suspicious. Border Patrol Agents said they found $22,891 in currency, including $14,900 in a backpack and the rest on Marcano during the traffic stop. Loomis also reported in his affidavit that agents found 4 grams of a suspected fentanyl/cocaine mixture in Marcano’s pants, 179 grams of a suspected cocaine/methamphetamine mixture in his backpack; 59 grams of cocaine from his pants. The defendant, also known as Alexander Rivera, remained at the Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport on Sunday for lack of $50,000 bail on a state charge of being a fugitive from justice. During the traffic stop, the Border Patrol agents learned Marcano had a pending arrest warrant for a felony assault from Hartford, Conn.