GREENFIELD — The “most significant seizure of heroin within the Northwestern District in recent memory,” has led to an eight-year state prison sentence for a Greenfield man, according to Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Bucci.

Stephen Hall, 28, pleaded guilty Friday to two counts he faced in Franklin County Superior Court, involving trafficking 12,000 individual bags of heroin, amounting to 210 grams, and leading to a sentence of eight years with no opportunities for a shorter sentence.

“The scope of his drug distribution and money laundering operation coupled with the fact that Stephen J. Hall II also had an unsecured firearm led to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office recommending one of the most significant prison sentences for drug distribution we have requested in the past eight years,” Bucci said in a press release late Friday.

Hall also received four years for money laundering, but it will be served at the same time as the drug sentence. The investigation found $235,000 cash that Hall had acquired as a “direct result of his distribution of heroin primarily throughout Franklin County,” according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Hall was arrested in August, following an investigation by the Northeast District Attorney’s Office-led Anti-Crime Task Force. At his home police found 12,000 bags of heroin, estimated to be worth $65,000. The police also found $80,000 in cash and a loaded Glock 30S large-capacity, semi-automatic handgun.

He was facing up to 13 years of prison, but with the plea that was reduced to eight years.

Hall also faced charges for improper storage of a firearm, possession of a firearm without an FID card and possession of ammunition without an FID card. A release from the District Attorney’s Office indicates he also pleaded guilty to those charges, but court documents indicate Hall only pleaded to the heroin trafficking charge and the money laundering charge.

In connection with his August arrest, Lauren Donovan, 20, who was living with him at the time, also faced a related set of charges. She appeared in court earlier this week and was released on personal recognizance, but will be due back in court next year.

During Donovan’s arraignment, her lawyer, Barry Auskern distanced her from Hall’s charges. He said her connection to the case was “minimal, at best.”

Hall was arrested when returning to his Greenfield home in August, on a Monday morning after leaving his child at the YMCA. He had tried to pedal away when he saw police officers headed for him, but was chased down and struck with a police car, leaving a bruise on his face from the fall.

He had been wearing a key around his neck, which opened a locked closet where the majority of the heroin was found.

The initial bail for Hall had been set at $250,000, but it was ultimately reduced to $100,000 after Hall’s attorney, Dave Simanski, said that Hall only has a ninth-grade education and “absolutely no money.”

You can reach Joshua Solomon at:

jsolomon@recorder.com

413-772-0261, ext. 264

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