A 12- year prison sentence
Judge gives heroin dealer
A busload of heroin dealer Victor Burnett’s family members from Detroit trekked to Pittsburgh on Thursday to see him hauled off to federal prison for shipping drugs from the Caribbean to Michigan and then to a gang dealing out of a house in Perry North.
U. S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer imposed a term of 12 years on the man known as “Big Homie,” who according to the FBI also supplied heroin to distributors in Ohio, Michigan and Georgia.
The 12- year term was negotiated as part of Burnett’s guilty plea in February.
Burnett, of Oak Park, Mich., was revealed as the source on FBI taps of 11 cellphones in an investigation that began in Pittsburgh in 2015 with complaints about drug dealing in Perry North.
Burnett’s family, about 30 of whom traveled from Detroit and packed the courtroom, told the judge he’s a changed man since his arrest and described him as a role model and “family leader.”
His mother said he was always the most responsible of her children, his father said he was a good son who “happened to take
the wrong road,” and a niece asked for leniency because he hadn’t been in trouble with the law before.
Burnett said drug dealers are glorified in society but said the reality is that drugs destroy communities.
“Coming to that realization, I’m truly ashamed of my actions,” he said. “It’s my goal to be a better man.”
Burnett and his lawyer had earlier tried to discredit the FBI in an attempt to get a search of his house declared illegal. He had argued that Pittsburgh FBI Agent Karen Springmeyer did not have probable cause to ask for a warrant, but Judge Fischer ruled that she did based on phone taps that revealed Burnett was the heroin supplier for Vanier Murraine, a drug dealer from St. Thomas living outside Detroit.
Murraine, who pleaded guilty, distributed heroin shipped from the Virgin Islands to Michigan and then to Pittsburgh, where local drug dealer Clinton Robinson of Sheraden sold it. Robinson is in prison.
Tapped conversations between Murraine and Robinson also revealed them describing Burnett as “Big Homie,” with Murraine vouching for the quality of Burnett’s heroin.
The FBI search of Burnett’s house turned up heroin and an AK- 47. He also bought ammunition for Murraine, who as a felon wasn’t allowed to have guns or ammo.