Burlington school board member resigns after being charged with trafficking fentanyl

A Burlington school board member resigned this week after he was arrested and charged in Massachusetts with trafficking fentanyl, according to court documents.

Rida Kori, 24, was arrested and charged in Holyoke, Massachusetts on Sept. 16 after police seized a large amount of suspected heroin and fentanyl from his car during a traffic stop, according to court documents.

He was charged with trafficking roughly 86 grams of suspected heroin and fentanyl, court records stated. Kori appeared in Holyoke District Court on Sept. 17 and was released on a $10,000 cash bail.

Kori, a Burlington High School graduate, submitted his resignation to the school board over the weekend, and to the city in writing on Tuesday, according to Russ Elek, a district spokesperson.

Clare Wool, the chair of the Burlington School Board of Commissioners, accepted Kori’s resignation during a board meeting Tuesday night but did not go into detail.

“On behalf of the Burlington School Board, I want to thank commissioner Kori for his volunteer service and I have accepted his formal resignation due to his personal circumstances,” Wool said.

His arrest was first reported by freelance journalist Michael Donoghue on Tuesday.

Members of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in Springfield, Massachusetts were first alerted to Kori when they spotted his vehicle during a separate narcotics investigation in Enfield, Connecticut in July, according to an affidavit written by Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael DeCaro.

Investigators tracked Kori’s vehicle via electronic surveillance, and noted several trips into Massachusetts and Connecticut, the affidavit read. On Sept. 16, investigators stopped the vehicle in Holyoke on Interstate 91. They searched Kori’s car and found approximately 1,300 glassine envelopes containing suspected heroin and fentanyl, according to the affidavit.

His attorney, Kedar K. Ismail, did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

Kori ran unopposed for the Ward 1 seat on Town Meeting Day. He attended Central Connecticut State to play Division 1 soccer, and previously worked as an assistant varsity soccer coach at Burlington High School as well as Peak Football Academy, according to a biography that has since been taken down from the Burlington School District’s website.

Kori is due to make a court appearance on Thursday, Oct. 3

Kori’s twin brother, Ramzi, was convicted on similar charges in March of 2022, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Vermont press release .

During a traffic stop, Burlington police discovered “6,850 bags of fentanyl-laced heroin, a loaded 9 mm Sig Sauer handgun, and $2,500 cash” in his car, the press release stated.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Burlington school board member resigns after being charged with trafficking fentanyl .