Epsom Drug Trafficker Gets 6.5 Years In Prison

CONCORD, NH — A capital region drug dealer has received a multi-year sentence in U.S. District Court on firearms and trafficking offenses, according to a press statement. Eric Collins, 44, of Oak Ridge Road in Epsom, was sentenced on March 5, 2018, to 78 months in prison after pleading guilty to using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime and possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute last year. Back in February 2017, Collins was arrested along with Jonathan Benedict and Caitlyn Dalrymple on Shawmut Street near Turtle Town Pond on drug charges.

Police requested a search warrant of Collins’ vehicle and found two guns, methamphetamine that was packaged for sale, other substances, and more than $7,500 in cash. He was indicted last summer on the charges and pleaded guilty in November 2017.

Collins was also arrested during the city’s third Operation Granite Hammer drug raid at both the Regency Hill Estates and Concord Gardens apartment complexes.

The case was investigated by the Concord Police and was part of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Project Safe Neighborhoods program. The initiative is federally-funded and intends to reduce gun violence through law enforcement training, public education, and aggressive law enforcement efforts to investigate and prosecute gun-related crimes, according to the U.S. District Court.

Image via Concord Police.