N.H. man gets five years on fentanyl charges

CONCORD – David Nguyen, 37, of Manchester, was sentenced on Tuesday to 60 months in federal prison for distributing fentanyl, U.S. Attorney Scott Murray said.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on Nov. 1, 2018, a cooperating individual, at the direction of law enforcement officers, arranged to buy fentanyl at Nguyen’s apartment. The cooperating individual later went to Nguyen’s apartment and purchased a quantity of fentanyl.

On Dec. 4, 2018, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Nguyen’s apartment, where they located two scales with drug residue.

Nguyen pleaded guilty on Sept. 10.

“The distribution of fentanyl has caused great hardship in Manchester and throughout New Hampshire,” Murray said. “This five-year prison term should serve as warning to fentanyl dealers operating in the Queen City. Under Operation SOS, we will continue to work closely with the Manchester Police Department and law enforcement agencies throughout Hillsborough County to bring drug dealers to justice.”

N.H. man gets 42 months on meth counts

CONCORD – Dean Smoronk, 58, of Farmington, was sentenced on Tuesday to 42 months in federal prison for participating in a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy, U.S. Attorney Scott Murray said.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on June 25, 2018, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) received information that Smoronk planned to have methamphetamine shipped from California to Lebanon, Maine.

“Methamphetamine is a dangerous drug that is appearing with disturbing frequency in New Hampshire,” Murray said. “As this case demonstrates, local traffickers are working with West Coast suppliers to make it available for sale here. In order to stop this dangerous and illegal trade, we will closely coordinate with all of our law enforcement partners to identify, arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate those responsible.”

Man sentenced on murder charge

MANCHESTER – New Hampshire Attorney General Gordon MacDonald and Manchester Police Chief Carlo Capano said Mark Heath of Manchester was sentenced on Wednesday in Hillsborough County Superior Court-North for the murder of 2-year-old Jacob Pelletier.

On Nov. 6, a jury convicted Heath of second-degree murder for recklessly causing Jacob’s death under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life by inflicting blunt force trauma to Jacob’s abdomen. Because Jacob was under 13 years of age at the time of his death, a fact that the jury found true along with its verdict, the minimum mandatory sentence for Heath’s conduct was 35 years to life in the New Hampshire State Prison.

Heath was sentenced to 45 years to life, with the possibility of five years suspended if he meets certain conditions.

Resort paid nearly $125K in back wages, fines

MANCHESTER (AP) — A New Hampshire resort paid nearly $125,000 in back wages to employees and fines to resolve violations of the non-immigrant visa program, the U.S. Labor Department said Wednesday.

The department said investigators found that the Naswa Resort in Laconia in 2016 and 2017 failed to comply with several requirements of the H-2B visa program, which permits employers to hire temporarily non-immigrant foreign workers to perform non-agricultural work.

Investigators said the resort failed to offer the same terms and working conditions to U.S. job applicants that it provided to H-2B employees. In its job advertisement, the resort said employees would be required to pay for housing and a security deposit, but didn’t require all H-2B employees to pay that. The ad offered 35 hours a week, less than the 2016 and 2017 weekly averages of 48 and 45 hours, respectively. It also failed to include the availability of a higher rate of pay in the ad, the department said.

Additional violations included placing the H-2B employees in job classifications outside of those included on the employer’s approved applications; paying those workers less; and not paying visa, registration and processing fees.

A message that was left at the resort Wednesday seeking comment was not returned.

Logger ordered to pay $10,000 in violations

BRADFORD (AP) — A New Hampshire logger has been ordered to pay $10,000 for repeated violations to the state’s forestry laws.

Officials said in a joint statement Tuesday that this is the first civil penalty imposed on a logger in Bradford under the state’s Enhanced Penalty Timber Law.

Under the 2011 bill, the state’s Forest Protection Bureau and attorney general can seek financial penalties for repeated logging violations in a seven-year period, New Hampshire Public Radio reported. Fines are calculated on a point system, where each conviction can earn up to three points.

The money collected from civil penalties is placed in a fund for forest protection.

Officials say Michael Carter has pleaded guilty to nine forestry-related offenses over a span of two years.