# Massachusetts woman sentenced in 'drugs-for-guns' scheme



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 


BRATTLEBORO, Vt. — A Massachusetts woman has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on two counts of conspiracy for her part in what authorities labeled a "guns for drugs" scheme linking the Brattleboro and Springfield, Mass., areas. 
Mariel Marrero, 24, of Springfield, Mass., could have given a life term on the charges. Court documents said she frequently traded cocaine for firearms, including a .45 caliber pistol and a semiautomatic firearm. 
The prosecutor in the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Woodcock, said the investigation involved police from Brattleboro and Springfield, as well as agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives offices in Burlington and Worcester, Mass. 
Marrero was sentenced earlier this year to 25 to 27 years in Massachusetts for shooting and wounding a man during a home invasion in Springfield, authorities said. 
The investigation also netted: 
— Marlon Taliaferro, 30, of Brattleboro, who was sentenced to 70 months in prison for supplying firearms to Marrero. 
— Jay Lindsay, 38, of Brattleboro, who got nine months to serve and two years' probation for dealing firearms without a license. 
— Nathaniel Trowell, of Brattleboro, who got 15 months in jail after pleading guilty to being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. 
— Torn Boyd, also of Brattleboro, who is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine. 
— Thomas Zargo, of Dover, who got 27 months for buying six "dangerous semiautomatic assault weapons and selling them to individuals involved in drug trafficking," according to court documents. 
Marrero used a Mac-10 sold by Zargo in the home invasion, in which Felix Cruz, a case manager at a drug treatment facility, was seriously wounded, authorities said.


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