Springfield Man Sentenced to 144 Months for Drug and Firearm Trafficking in Vermont
Alec Diaz, 22, of Springfield, Massachusetts, was sentenced on September 8, 2026, to 144 months in prison for drug and firearm crimes.
2 reports on this incident · first at Sep 9, 2026, 5:03 a.m. ET
This case is not concluded. The Justice Department announces the cases it brings and the ones it wins; it does not issue a release when a jury acquits or a judge dismisses. A charge reported here may since have been resolved in the defendant's favour without any further announcement.
We last searched for new coverage of this at Sep 9, 2026, 5:40 a.m. ET — checked 2h ago.
Earlier reports
Sep 9, 2026, 5:03 a.m. ETFirst report
Springfield Man Sentenced to 144 Months for Drug and Firearm Trafficking in Vermont
The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont announced that on September 8, 2026, Alec Diaz, also known as “Benn Tenn,” 22, of Springfield, Massachusetts, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Lanthier to 144 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Diaz had pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute fentanyl and cocaine base, possessing with intent to distribute 28 grams or more of cocaine base, and carrying and using a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
According to court records, between January 2023 and September 2025, Diaz managed and supervised a drug trafficking organization operating around Bennington, Vermont. Diaz and associates imported kilograms of cocaine into Vermont, where 90% was converted to cocaine base, and also regularly imported fentanyl. Numerous individuals, including a juvenile, distributed drugs on his behalf, at times selling over 1,000 bags of fentanyl a day. On September 24, 2025, law enforcement arrested Diaz in Pownal, Vermont, seizing a .45 caliber handgun, approximately 26 grams of cocaine, approximately 32 grams of cocaine base, and $15,000 cash. Diaz also trafficked firearms, obtaining handguns and AR-style rifles from a Bennington-area resident and transferring them to another drug trafficker. He used firearms to intimidate others and protect his operation, and on at least one occasion obtained a firearm in exchange for drugs.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan A. Ophardt commended the collaborative efforts of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. He stated: “For two and a half years, Diaz pushed kilograms of poisonous drugs into Vermont for profit while facilitating the movement of firearms to other drug traffickers. Diaz’ lengthy prison sentence should serve as a warning to others who would do the same.” The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Turner, and Diaz was represented by Assistant Federal Public Defender Samuel Ansell.
Was this report accurate and useful?
Sources
Revision history
- Version 19 Sept 2026, 09:22current
First published.
- Version 19 Sept 2026, 09:03current
First published.
How we work
This site models an investigative reporter rather than a wire desk. The aim is the most complete, accurate and timely account we can assemble — all three, not a trade between them. Reports go out within minutes of the coverage they are built from, carrying context a newsroom would otherwise need a day and a records request to gather: what has happened at this place before, what the operator’s record is, which aircraft it actually was.
Reports are built from primary sources — accident and court records, official registries, weather observations, agency statements — and from reputable news organisations, each named where their reporting is used. Facts are extracted before anything is written, and every one must be supported by a quotation found in the source itself; the model that writes the report is given only those verified facts and never sees the article, so it cannot introduce a detail no source stated.
Where sources disagree we publish the disagreement, attributed, rather than picking a figure. Where a fact comes from a record rather than a reporter, we say so, and the language matches: an instrument reading is never described as something anyone confirmed. Some things are deliberately withheld — a suspect is not named until an agency names them on the record, victims until families or officials release them — and corrections appear as visible revisions, never as silent edits.
None of that makes a report true. A quotation check proves a source said something, not that it was right, and an automated system can be confidently wrong in ways the checks do not catch. If something here is wrong, the feedback above is how it gets found. The full methodology, including what we refuse to publish.