A Burlington school board member has resigned after police in Massachusetts arrested him last month on allegations that he trafficked fentanyl.

Former Ward 1 representative Rida Kori, 24, faces a felony drug charge that carries a minimum sentence of five years in prison, according to documents filed in Holyoke District Court. Freelance journalist Michael Donoghue first reported Kori's arrest.

Kori, a Burlington High School graduate, ran unopposed for the Ward 1 seat on Town Meeting Day and attended his first school board meeting in April. He resigned over the weekend, district spokesperson Russell Elek said on Tuesday.



He pleaded not guilty to the criminal charge on September 17; a Massachusetts judge ordered him held on $10,000 cash bail. He is due in court again on Thursday.

"My client denies all charges and is looking forward to clearing his name from these allegations," Kori's attorney, Kedar K. Ismail, wrote in an email.

Law enforcement officers began investigating Kori in July after seeing his vehicle outside a Connecticut hotel where they were conducting a separate drug trafficking investigation, Massachusetts State Police trooper Michael DeCaro wrote in an affidavit.

Investigators continued to monitor Kori as he made short trips across the Massachusetts-Connecticut border, DeCaro wrote. On September 16, officers pulled him over on Interstate 91 and searched his car. They seized 43 packs of "suspected heroin/fentanyl" that were inside, totaling 86 grams, DeCaro wrote.

Kori's arrest follows the federal prosecution of his twin brother, Ramzi, several years ago on drug charges. Ramzi Kori was convicted of possessing and intending to distribute heroin and for illegally possessing a firearm. A federal judge in Vermont sentenced Ramzi Kori to three years in prison.

The brothers were born in Sudan, and their family immigrated to the United States when they were 4 years old, according to court records in Ramzi Kori's case. Their parents worked long hours and the family had little money, but the academically talented and athletic brothers both attended college.

Several community leaders wrote letters of support for Ramzi Kori in advance of his criminal sentencing in 2022, including the president of the Sudanese Community of Vermont, former YMCA of Greater Burlington executive director Kyle Dodson and school board chair Clare Wool.

"Ramzi and his twin brother, Rida, are well known and respected among students and young adults here in Burlington," Wool wrote in her letter.

She described the charges against Ramzi as an "enormous wake-up call to our greater community, his friends and his family."

Rida Kori played Division 1 soccer at Central Connecticut State University and, upon graduation, worked last year as an assistant soccer coach at Burlington High School, according to a biography on the school website that has since been removed.

Rida Kori also submitted a character reference for his brother to the federal court several years ago. During high school, he wrote, the brothers worked 12-hour shifts at a cosmetics factory, then practiced soccer drills together in the evenings.

In a statement on Tuesday, Wool thanked Rida Kori for his service on the board — an unpaid position — but declined further comment.



The school board does not yet have a plan to fill the now-vacant seat, Elek said.

Alison Novak contributed reporting.