Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that Dante Flowers Jr., 30, formerly of Hartford, Connecticut, was sentenced yesterday in the United States District Court in Burlington to 200 months of imprisonment. United States District Judge Christina Reiss also ordered that Flowers Jr. to serve three years of supervised release following his period of incarceration. Flowers Jr. had previously pleaded guilty to participating in a drug conspiracy and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

According to court documents, in 2020, in the Orleans County area of Vermont, Dante Flowers Jr. (who was also known as “Fresh”), conspired with Jayquan Flintroy (who was also known as “Jay”) and Dante Flowers Sr. (who was also known as “Pops”), to distribute crack cocaine and fentanyl. During the conspiracy, Flowers Jr. and his coconspirators carried firearms and used violence to threaten and control people, including their drug customers and local drug re-distributors. On October 15, 2020, Flowers Jr., along with Dante Flowers Sr., seriously assaulted a man at his residence in Derby, Vermont, purportedly in a dispute over drug money. This assault internally decapitated the man and left him a paraplegic. The man is still paralyzed with little to no function of arms and no function of the lower part of his body.

Following the assault, Flowers Jr. and his coconspirators continued to sell drugs. On November 30, 2020, the group was together in a car in the parking lot of the Wendy’s Restaurant in Newport, Vermont. While in the parking lot, there was another dispute about drugs and Flowers Sr. was shot in the leg. Flowers Jr. and Flintroy were arrested after the shooting. Flowers Sr. recovered from the shooting and was also later arrested. Flowers Sr. and Flintroy have pleaded guilty in federal court to the drug conspiracy and a charge of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Flintroy and Flowers Sr. are awaiting sentencing.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Vermont State Police, Newport Police Department, Orleans County Sheriff’s Department, United States Marshal Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine, United States Border Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Wendy L. Fuller represented the government. Mark D. Oettinger, Esq. represented Flowers Jr.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department of Justice launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities and measuring the results.

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