A 33-year-old Springfield man has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for turning a rented house in South Burlington, Vermont into a cocaine stash house, with investigators saying he traveled from western Massachusetts to set up the operation. Armando Robles was ordered to serve 60 months behind bars followed by four years of supervised release after he was convicted of maintaining a drug-involved premises and possessing cocaine with intent to distribute.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, District of Vermont, Robles was sentenced on October 29 by Chief United States District Judge Christina Reiss. He had pleaded guilty to possessing with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and to maintaining a drug-involved premises, with prosecutors saying he was convicted of possessing about 1½ pounds of cocaine with intent to distribute, per MassLive. The drug stash house charge alone carried a mandatory minimum of at least five years, the outlet reports.
Robles pleaded guilty to both felony charges back in June, MassLive notes. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Flynn wrote in a sentencing memo that Robles came from western Massachusetts specifically to establish the drug operation in the Burlington area, renting the South Burlington residence in May and June of 2025 to facilitate drug manufacturing and distribution.
Early Morning Raid Turns Up Cash, Cocaine and Crack
The investigation that led to Robles's arrest traces back to a search warrant executed at 172 White St. in South Burlington on June 3, 2025. Burlington Police Department's Emergency Response Unit and DEA members carried out the search around 6:30 a.m., with Robles and 32-year-old Orlando Heredia, also of Springfield, present when officers arrived, according to the same MassLive report.
Inside, law enforcement recovered nearly 600 grams of cocaine along with more than 100 grams of crack cocaine, MassLive reports. Officers also found $1,424 in cash, some of it traced to one of four controlled drug purchases made in the weeks before the raid, and multiple cell phones including one allegedly used to arrange those buys. The controlled purchases were conducted over six weeks in the Burlington area that spring, per the outlet, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration assisted throughout the search.
Local outlets covering the arrest described the scene differently in the weeks that followed. MyChamplainValley reported that “31-year-old Armando Robles and 32-year-old Orlando Heredia were found within the home and arrested,” and said the warrant marked the end of an investigation run by the South Burlington Police Department's Drug Unit. Western Mass News reported that both men were released on $10,000 bail, each required to have no contact with the other and to stay away from the Vermont residence.
Prior Gun Convictions Cited at Sentencing
Flynn told the court that Robles's criminal history includes two gun-charge convictions from Massachusetts in 2016, which resulted in an 18-month custodial sentence on the first charge and a two-year probation term on the second, MassLive reports. Flynn said those prior convictions and sentences did little to deter his criminal activity, and noted that per her account, Robles was later charged in Massachusetts with a serious crime following the gun convictions.
While in custody awaiting sentencing, Robles received a major disciplinary report for assault, according to Flynn, and spent four days in segregation as a result, the outlet reports. Robles also objected to a proposed post-prison condition that would bar him from contact with convicted felons; per Flynn's memo, prosecutors and the U.S. Probation Office agreed to allow an exception to that restriction for family members.
Heredia has pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute and is awaiting sentencing in December, MassLive reports. The MassLive article was authored by Mike Donoghue as a special contributor to The Republican and published in the outlet's Western Massachusetts section.
