Convicted felon held without bail after Brattleboro drug case

According to court records a cooperating informant purchased more than 10 ½ ounces of crack cocaine and 91 bags of fentanyl over 15 transactions.

Federal authorities have detained a Hartford, Conn. man after investigators said he carried out 15 crack cocaine sales in the Brattleboro area while on supervised release from a prior firearms conviction.

Shameik Camara, 37, was ordered held without bail during a hearing Thursday in Burlington. Prosecutors said he was already under federal supervision from an earlier case involving illegal gun possession when the alleged drug trafficking took place.

According to court records, the latest investigation centered on controlled buys made by a cooperating informant, who purchased more than 10 ½ ounces of crack cocaine and 91 bags of fentanyl over 15 transactions. A Brattleboro Police detective working with the Vermont Drug Task Force said Camara and another person had been arranging sales with the same cellphone and the alias Cody Banks.

Federal prosecutor David Golubock told the court that the evidence against Camara was substantial, pointing to recorded video of the transactions and his long criminal history. He argued that Camara should remain in custody because he posed both a flight risk and a threat to public safety.

The earlier firearms case stemmed from the theft of 50 guns from a warehouse where Camara worked in 2021, according to court records. He received a 3-year prison term for unlawful possession of firearms by a convicted felon and another 3-year sentence for theft of interstate shipments, to be served at the same time. After leaving prison, he began a 3-year term of supervised release.

Authorities said Camara was arrested in Brattleboro on Wednesday night and later booked at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans Town around 2 a.m. Thursday ahead of his federal court appearance.

Video posted Thursday afternoon by Brattleboro social media producer Henry Poitras, known online as Planet Hank, appeared to show the arrest outside the Colonial Motel on Putney Road at about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. Police also seized a Black SUV during the operation, which investigators believe will be searched under court authority.

The arrest involved the Vermont Drug Task Force, the FBI, the Vermont State Police and Brattleboro Police. During the hearing, Golubock also said a search of Camara’s home on Winchester Street in Hartford turned up about 100 bags of fentanyl.

Assistant Federal Defender Sara Puls had asked the court to consider release under strict conditions. She said Camara is the father of two young girls, had been in drug treatment since early September and tested positive only for marijuana before the hearing. She also said the court filing described just one alleged drug sale.

Magistrate Judge Kevin Doyle, after reviewing Camara’s record, rejected release and ordered him detained. Doyle noted prior assaults, repeated probation violations and three protective orders filed against Camara in 2025 after an assault case.