BURLINGTON — Police Chief Brandon del Pozo has called for a shift in police training away from firearm use in situations where distressed individuals are holding knives.

In a New York Times op-ed published Thursday, del Pozo wrote that police training around the country teaches officers to lead with a gun in those situations. 

“We tell officers that a knife or a shard of glass is always a lethal threat and that they should aggressively meet it with a lethal threat in return,” del Pozo wrote. “But doing so forecloses all of the better ways to communicate with a person in crisis. There are alternatives.” 

Police academies should prioritize de-escalation training in which officers try to engage knife-wielding individuals without yelling at or threatening them, he wrote. 

“Police academies should ingrain a wide range of skills, drills and responses in trainees before they ever handle a firearm,” del Pozo said. “Training should start by sending officers into scenarios where they have to solve problems without recourse to lethal force.” 

The op-ed comes three years after a Burlington officer shot and killed resident Phil Grennon, who was mentally ill and armed with a knife. 

Del Pozo told VTDigger in an interview that officers’ first instinct is to pull their guns and issue orders, including in that instance. 

“Once they have some calm, they are able to start negotiating,” he said. “It occurred to me we want that second instinct to be the one that dominates.”

In the op-ed, del Pozo wrote that there were “few things … more harrowing than watching video of an officer confront a person in emotional crisis armed with a knife or other similar object.” 

These individuals become more distressed when yelled at by an officer, del Pozo wrote, and often advance with a desire to be shot before getting shot. 

“Everyone suffers when this happens: the person in crisis who gets shot and may well die; the officer who will experience lifelong trauma and doubt, and his or her family and loved ones; and a community that feels it failed to help a person in need,” he wrote. 

The op-ed also referenced a suggestion from Councilor Perri Freeman, P-Central District, that the city explore disarming officers. Del Pozo wrote that in America, this idea was a “nonstarter.” 

“Police officers being rendered helpless to respond to mass shootings and other gun violence puts a community in danger,” he wrote. “But if the police profession doesn’t want politicians broaching these ideas, we owe the public a commitment to doing everything we can to respect the sanctity of life. We should fundamentally change the way police officers view their guns.”

Freeman said at a May 14 council meeting that disarming officers could be an aspect to “dismantle sort of a culture of violence and militarization we’ve had for a long time.” Vermont is one of the states with the lowest levels of violent crime, she said. 

The department is currently under scrutiny as it faces two federal lawsuits filed by African American men alleging police brutality after officers shoved and tackled them in 2018. A special committee is currently reviewing the department’s policies. 

Del Pozo told VTDigger that officers should have firearms to protect themselves but not use firearms as a crutch. 

“Have it to protect yourself, but know the way you are going to try to solve the situation of the person in crisis is going to be through better engagement,” he said. “The gun is an insurance policy.” 

Del Pozo said the Vermont Police Academy could modify its curriculum to emphasize firearms as insurance and safety and not as a means of persuasion in these situations. 

Read the story on VTDigger here: In New York Times op-ed, Del Pozo says police should use guns as a last resort.

Federal prosecutors say the criminal fraud case against former Jay Peak owner Ariel Quiros and three of his associates should stay in Vermont, disputing that press coverage has been “inflammatory” and alleged conflicts with the prosecutor’s office make a fair trial in the state impossible. 

Lawyers for Quiros have argued in an earlier filing that the media reports had painted their client as a “villain,” and links to the case of high-ranking leaders warrant moving the case out of Vermont.

A filing by the prosecution this week stated that the news articles cited by the defense “are predominantly factual in nature and do not prejudge the defendants’ culpability.” 

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul van de Graaf and Nicole Cate wrote in their motion opposing the bid to have the trial moved out of Vermont that jurors can be adequately screened through the “voir dire” process where attorneys question them about their knowledge of the case and the players involved.

“The government is confident that the Court can and will conduct voir dire in a manner designed to ensure the identification of unbiased jurors,” the prosecution filing stated.

Quiros and Bill Stenger, Jay Peak’s former CEO and president, as well as two of their partners, were indicted in May on federal criminal charges related to the biomedical center project, known as AnC Bio Vermont, that had been proposed for Newport. 

The criminal charges leveled against the project developers include wire fraud and making false statements to the government regarding the failed biomedical facility.

The project never really got off the ground despite raising more than $80 million from 169 foreign investors through the federal EB-5 immigrant investor program.

Stenger, and another defendant in the case, William Kelly, who has been called by prosecutors a “key advisor” to Quiors, have since joined Quiros in arguing to have the case moved out of Vermont. 

A hearing on whether the case should be moved is set for Dec. 20. 

Quiros’ attorney, in a filing last month, included more than 150 exhibits, featuring news articles from outlets around the state that they say showed how extensively the case has been covered in Vermont. 

“Spurred on by the Government and other federal and State politicians who have scapegoated Mr. Quiros to deflect attention from their own involvement in the charged conduct, the Vermont media have convicted Mr. Quiros before he has had his day in Court,” the filing added 

“Not only has the media branded this case as the ‘Kingdom Con’ and ‘the largest fraud’ in Vermont history,” the filing stated, “but Mr. Quiros has become Vermont’s public enemy number one.”

The prosecutors discounted the influence press coverage of the EB-5 scandal in Vermont would have in selecting a fair and impartial jury to hear the criminal case.

The prosecutors added that any trial in the case would take place in federal court in Rutland, with a jury selected from a pool drawn from the southern part of the state, not in northern Vermont where the scandal generated greater attention.

The prosecution filing stated that while Quiros’ attorneys contend that VTDigger “appears to have run more stories on the allegations in the case than any other outlet,” its readership is limited in the southern part of the state.

The prosecutor, citing VTDigger’s online media kit, wrote that the news organization’s monthly statistics show approximately 9.17% of its readers live in Southern Vermont. 

Those numbers were gathered by VTDigger in June 2018. 

The prosecution cited similar statistics for other news outlets who have regularly reported on the EB-5 scandal. 

Quiros’ attorneys had pointed out in their filings that WCAX-TV has repeatedly headlined stories related to the case with the phrase “Kingdom Con.” 

The prosecutors wrote that they didn’t believe that was cause to move a trial out of Vermont. 

“Referring to the alleged conduct underlying the indictment as a ‘con,’ a massive fraud, a Ponzi scheme, or any other pithy descriptor is hardly so prejudicial as to deprive Quiros of the fair and impartial jury to which he is entitled,” according to the prosecutors.

Quiros’ lawyers also claimed that investigators in the criminal probe, including U.S. Attorney for Vermont Christina Nolan, “actively steered away from the federal and State officials.” 

Quiros’ lawyers specifically point to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., as a big backer of the EB-5 financed projects in Vermont.

But prosecutors, in their filing this week, dispute that any political connections prove their criminal probe has been tainted.

“Quiros’s criticisms of the government’s investigation are not relevant to Ms. Nolan’s supposed bias in favor of Senator Leahy,” the prosecutors wrote.

“Quiros fails to explain how Senator Leahy’s actions — and by extension any alleged consideration of them by Ms. Nolan — have any bearing on whether Quiros is guilty of the charged offenses,” the filing added.

It was Leahy who recommended Nolan, whose office is heading the criminal investigation, for the post of the top federal prosecutor in the state. Nolan was later appointed to the position by President Donald Trump.

The recent prosecution filing stated that although Quiros’ lawyers claim that Leahy is a key witness who can prove their client’s innocence, investigators had a different opinion and “simply did not consider Senator Leahy a key witness.”

Quiros’ attorneys at hearings and in filings have highlighted Leahy’s close association with the EB-5 program in Vermont, and with Stenger, who had been a friend of the senator.

Leahy had tapped Stenger to testify before Congress about the benefits of the EB-5 program. In addition, the senator wrote a letter of support for the proposed AnC Bio biomedical research project, which was later found to be “nearly a complete fraud” by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  

Quiros’ attorneys had also noted that Eric Miller was recommended by Leahy to be U.S. Attorney in 2015. It was under Miller that the criminal probe began.

At the time of the filing of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the state civil enforcement actions against Quiros and Stenger in April 2016, Eric Miller said his office was investigating whether federal criminal charges should be filed.

Eric Miller’s nomination came shortly before Elizabeth Miller, Eric Miller’s wife, left her post as chief of staff for then-Gov. Peter Shumlin in May 2015. 

Quiros’ attorney argued in their filing that Miller should have recused himself much earlier from the case as a result of his wife’s connection to the Shumlin administration. Quiros’ attorneys contend that the Shumlin administration were big backers of the developers and their projects.

“As the Government acknowledged,” Quiros’ attorney wrote in their filing, “Miller was recused in 2016. But it appears that Miller directed the investigation for a least a year during which the investigatory approach appears to have been shaped and tainted.” 

The prosecutors, in their response submitted this week, wrote that the criminal charges were brought well after Miller had left the office.

“Although Quiros repeatedly discusses former United States Attorney Eric Miller’s recusal from the investigation in 2016, this action says nothing about the bias of Ms. Nolan, the United States Attorney when Quiros was charged,” Van de Graaf wrote.

“Further,” the prosecutor added, “(the Department of Justice’s) decision to recuse Mr. Miller illustrates the impartiality of the investigation rather than any bias. Mr. Miller was recused three years before the charges were brought, when the federal criminal investigators had hardly begun speaking with potential witnesses.”

The filing does not specify why Miller was recused from the case.

Van de Graaf and Cate, through a spokesperson, declined comment. Attorney Seth Levine, Quiros’ lawyer, declined Friday to comment on the prosecution filing.  

Quiros’ lawyers have alleged that high-ranking state officials, including Shumlin and former Republican Gov. James Dougas, backed the series of EB-5 financed projects headed by the now-indicted developers.

The lawyers have argued that many of the more than 100 investors in the failed biomedical research center project have said they would not have invested in AnC Bio if not for the support of the governors, congressional members, and oversight of the project from the state-run EB-5 regional center.  

When problems arose with the projects, according to the Quiros’ legal team, those officials sought to walk away from Quiros and the projects he headed.

Prosecutors, in their filing this week, referred to Stenger as skilled at marketing and manipulation, bringing in political leaders to press conferences for the Northeast Kingdom projects that came with claims of hundreds of jobs. 

“The federal and state officials, like the investors themselves, relied heavily on Stenger, a successful and charismatic businessman who posed as a savior for the Northeast Kingdom and touted the defendants’ false narrative about the AnC Vermont project,” the prosecutors wrote. 

“He and his co-conspirators knew that the politicians would flock to these press conferences and speak in support of the defendants’ vision,” the filing stated, adding, “The defendants used this public political support to further their scheme to defraud.” 

Quiros, Stenger and Kelly have all pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

A fourth defendant in the criminal case, Jong Weon (Alex) Choi, was the operator of AnC Bio Korea and a business associate of Quiros.

Choi has yet to be arraigned on the charges against him and he hasn’t attended any of the hearings in the case. Federal prosecutors and his attorney have refused to reveal anything about his whereabouts. 

A trial in the case is tentatively set for October 2020.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Feds seek to keep EB-5 criminal fraud trial in Vermont.

A federal judge has ruled that it is unconstitutional for border agents to search travelers’ electronic devices without reasonable suspicion.

The decision, issued Tuesday in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Massachusetts and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is poised to curb the authority of federal agents to conduct searches of travelers’ smartphones and laptops as they are entering the United States.

The case involved 11 plaintiffs, and cited multiple searches that occurred at the port of entry in Highgate, Vermont. A family returning from a vacation in Canada was stopped and searched in July 2017, and a journalist was forced to give up his password and was questioned about his work the same month.

Legal experts say the ruling is important in defining the limits of border enforcement agencies’ authorities to access personal information, and will particularly affect people in a border-adjacent place like Vermont, where some people regularly cross the border.

Meanwhile, New England lawmakers in Congress this week separately questioned Customs and Border Protection’s ramp-up of immigration checkpoints on highways far from the international boundary — raising concern over a different aspect of border agents’ broad search authorities. 

Reasonable suspicion to search devices

U.S. District Judge Denise Casper ruled that suspicionless searches of devices by border agents violate the Fourth Amendment. She wrote in the decision that authorities need “reasonable suspicion” that the devices contain contraband in order to carry out a search.

In a statement, the ACLU celebrated the court ruling as an end to the government’s “fishing expeditions.”

“This ruling significantly advances Fourth Amendment protections for the millions of international travelers who enter the United States every year,” Esha Bhandari, an ACLU staff attorney said in a statement.

Lia Ernst, staff attorney for ACLU-VT, said the decision distinguishes that searching individuals’ electronic devices is beyond border agents’ authority to conduct “routine” searches.

The ruling finds that searches of devices must be based on the belief that the device itself contains contraband, such as child pornography — not that there is evidence of a crime on it, she said.

While the ACLU heralds the decision as a victory, the judge did not rein in searches as much as the lawsuit had sought. Plaintiffs had hoped the court would decide that authorities must get a warrant in order to conduct searches — a stiffer standard than the “reasonable suspicion” requirement in the decision.

“This doesn’t give us the sort of protection that a warrant requirement would,” Ernst said, but she noted the legal debates around searches are likely to continue. “Courts are moving more and more into recognizing how intrusive these searches are, and erecting more and more barriers, and I suspect this is not the last word on the subject.”

The number of searches of travelers’ electronic devices at the border has sharply increased in recent years. Ernst said ACLU-VT has heard from some people wary that their devices could be searched at the border — like a lawyer who worried that if the person’s electronic devices were searched that it could be a violation of attorney-client privilege.

Last year, Customs and Border Protection searched more than 33,000 devices — four times the number of searches in 2015, according to Sen. Patrick Leahy’s office. The sharp increase has been of concern to civil liberties advocates and some lawmakers, including Leahy, who recently reintroduced legislation to require a warrant for device searches at the border.

CBP contends only a small portion of travelers are affected by the searches. In fiscal year 2019, which ended at the end of September, the agency conducted a total of 40,913 searches of electronic devices at the border, according to CBP spokesperson Michael McCarthy. That represents less than 0.01% of the more than 414 million travelers who arrived through ports of entry last year, he noted.

CBP refused to comment on the court decision, saying the agency “does not comment on matters in litigation.”

Keeping up with rights and technology

Vermont Law School professor Jared Carter said the decision represents a modernization of constitutional standards to the realities of present-day technologies and the vast amount of personal information now stored in digital devices like smartphones.

“If our constitutional rights don’t keep up with the advent of technology, then they pretty quickly can become meaningless,” Carter said.

The ruling, he said, marks an important distinction of citizens’ rights at the border to privacy regarding the information on their phones.

“From our browsing history to our contacts to our schedules, really it’s a place where our lives live,” Carter said. “And the fact that the courts are beginning to recognize that even at the border, we have privacy interests in that information, I think is critical.”

Establishing the limits on border officials’ search authority is particularly relevant in Vermont, he noted.

“Lots of Vermonters either cross the border or live within the shadow of the border,” Carter said. “As we’re seeing increased focus on border security, whether it’s the wall or technology, it’s really important that courts grapple with this.”

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit had been the subject of border searches as they entered the country through airports and on land, like the port of entry on the U.S.-Canada border in Highgate.

In July 2017, Ghassan and Nadia Alasaad were on their way back from a vacation in Canada to their home in Massachusetts after their 11-year-old daughter had become ill when CBP officers at the Highgate station flagged them for secondary inspection.

According to the ACLU, the officers first went through Ghassan Alasaad’s phone, which was unlocked.

Five hours after they had been detained, a CBP officer asked Nadia Alasaad to give her password to her phone, which was locked, the ACLU states. Nadia Alasaad, who wears a headscarf, objected; the phone contained photos of herself without her headscarf on. She eventually did give her password, but requested that a male officer not conduct the search because of the photos. When they were told that it would take several more hours for a female officer to arrive, the Alasaads decided to leave their phones.

Their phones were returned two weeks later, but photos of their daughter’s graduation had been deleted, Ghassan Alasaad told VTDigger in 2017.

Agents “not only pried into our private life, they destroyed parts of it,” he said at the time.

Also in July 2017, journalist Isma’il KushKush, another plaintiff in the case, traveled to Montreal with a group of fellow students at a Middlebury College language program. On his way back into Vermont, he was flagged for inspection at the Highgate port of entry, according to the ACLU. An officer told him to unlock his phone, which he eventually did, though he voiced an objection.

According to the ACLU, the officers took the phone out of his sight for about an hour. He later was questioned about his journalistic work.

Lawmakers press CBP on checkpoints 

Separately in 2017, VTDigger contributor Terry Allen was asked by a border officer to delete photographs she’d taken of the Highgate station.

Separately this week, Leahy, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., joined with members of New Hampshire’s congressional delegation to send a letter to CBP questioning the reasons behind the recent ramp-up of citizenship checkpoints in northern New England.

Border Patrol agents have broad authority up to 100 miles from the border — an issue separate from the electronic device searches that also raises concerns about protections from search. Leahy, Welch and others have proposed legislation to limit the Border Patrol zone.

Some 4,200 cars were stopped in the four checkpoints Border Patrol carried out in South Hero last summer, according to the letter. The searches resulted in only one arrest, for visa overstay. Checkpoints along Interstate 89 in New Hampshire clogged up traffic and irked locals.

In the letter lawmakers pressed the agency for information about why Border Patrol has increased checkpoints, after several years without any in the area, as well as for details about how frequently the agency uses “directed roving border patrols” — another form of enforcement away from the immediate border area.

The letter also raises questions about disparate standards Border Patrol agents reportedly use when asking people about their status at checkpoints; some people are free to go after giving a verbal answer, while others are asked to provide “extremely specific documentation,” the letter writes.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Judge rules suspicionless border searches of devices unconstitutional.

When Vermont’s Catholic Church recently came clean about its half-century-long history of child sex abuse claims against 10% of its clergy, many wondered how much money the state’s largest religious denomination had on hand to deal with a potential new wave of lawsuits.

The statewide Diocese of Burlington’s latest public financial statement lists $16 million in unrestricted net assets.

But that figure doesn’t include an estimated $500 million in property that church leaders stashed into trusts more than a decade ago to protect those assets from priest abuse settlements.

In the spring of 2006, then-Bishop Salvatore Matano began to see how much the scandal, first exposed by the Boston Globe, would cost the church.

The Vermont diocese had paid one accuser $20,000 to drop his court case in 2003. A year later, two more men demanded $120,000 and $150,000 respectively before they agreed to settle. In 2006, the church, facing a six-figure debt and a seemingly endless series of civil lawsuits, saw individual settlement claims rise to nearly $1 million.

That’s when Matano hatched an idea. The bishop told his attorney to place each of the diocese’s local parishes — some 130 at the time — into separate trusts whose holdings could only be tapped for “pious, charitable or educational purposes,” shielding the property from potential multimillion-dollar jury verdicts.

“In such litigious times, it would be a gross act of mismanagement if I did not do everything possible to protect our parishes and the interests of the faithful from unbridled, unjust and terribly unreasonable assault,” Matano wrote in a private letter to concerned Catholics.

Soon after, the diocese’s lawyer quietly sent a stack of two-page “deed into trust” form letters to municipal clerks throughout the state.

Although news reports revealed the diocese’s initial idea for shielding assets 13 years ago, details about how the church carried out the plan, what it stockpiled and where everything would lead haven’t been reported until now. As renewed scrutiny of priest misconduct raises new questions about the diocese’s capacity for future payouts, the trusts could soon be tested.

‘The information we have is sufficiently compelling’

Ever since 17th century Catholic explorer Samuel de Champlain inspired the name of the Green Mountain State — “Voilà les monts verts!” he reportedly exclaimed four centuries ago — the church has played a prominent role in Vermont history, boasting as many as 157,000 members as late as 1980.

But its reputation was besmirched when former residents of Burlington’s now-closed St. Joseph’s Catholic orphanage spoke publicly in the 1990s about enduring physical and psychological abuse during the facility’s operation from 1854 to 1974.

The diocese offered each orphanage resident $5,000 to drop their right to sue. As many as 160 considered the deal and more than 100 accepted payment, according to news reports from the time.

When the press reported on a statewide priest misconduct scandal in the early 2000s, church leaders used a similar strategy to keep survivors from talking.

The idea initially worked. In the fall of 2003, the diocese settled the first lawsuit for a small unspecified sum.

“I’m not going to tell you the amount, although it’s relatively low,” the accuser’s lawyer said at the time of a figure reported to be $20,000. “It was never about the money, it was getting the church to recognize what they did was wrong. We don’t think this is the end of the story. We think there are other victims out there.”

Other survivors weren’t as easily satisfied. A year later, the diocese settled two more cases for $120,000 and $150,000. The church also revealed it had spent more than $700,000 to squash earlier lawsuits dating back to 1950 and another $2 million for orphanage-related compensation, counseling and legal fees.

The diocese doesn’t have insurance for abuse cases and therefore must pay for settlements with assets on hand. (Church leaders stress they don’t tap regular collection money or the diocesan Bishop’s Fund for settlements.)

By 2005, more than a dozen people had filed lawsuits seeking liens on church property totaling up to $30 million.

“We believe the information we have is sufficiently compelling that seven-figure verdicts are quite likely,” their lawyer, Jerome O’Neill of Burlington, said at the time about the possibility of jury trials. “We want to make sure that there are sufficient assets available if we are successful in our actions.”

‘This was much more than we wanted to pay’

Soon after, O’Neill scored big when a judge ordered the Vermont Attorney General’s office to share the priest misconduct files it obtained from the diocese. The lawyer received hundreds of pages of paperwork chronicling the fact the church knew several of its priests had faced accusations of child sex abuse for decades but did nothing to alert the public or police.

By the spring of 2006, O’Neill had 17 new clients and a slate of trials set to start the day after Easter. What the public didn’t know: the first of those cases centered on claims against the former Rev. Edward Paquette, who secret files showed to be the worst serial predator of all the state’s clergy.

A court order restricted anyone involved from talking publicly. But privately, O’Neill and church leaders understood the value of the papers the lawyer held in his hands. If they were introduced in court, a shocked jury might award a survivor a multimillion-dollar verdict.

The church seemed ready to reject escalating settlement demands as Burlington’s Chittenden Superior Court screened jurors for the first Paquette trial in April 2006. Then the judge, gaveling in proceedings, announced the parties had forged a last-minute agreement for a record $965,000.

“This was much more than we wanted to pay,” the diocese’s lawyer said outside court. “But we decided that it would be the best to minimize the cost.”

Church leaders had hoped the settlement would keep the accuser from talking publicly. But once the court lifted its gag order upon the close of the trial, O’Neill — whose client hadn’t signed a nondisclosure agreement — surprised everyone by revealing all of the evidence.

The documents showed Vermont Catholic leaders knew two other states had dismissed Paquette for child sex abuse before they assigned him to Rutland in 1972, Montpelier in 1974 and Burlington in 1976. 

“The dossier is large and the history long,” the bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, had warned his Green Mountain State colleagues in a letter about the priest’s record of molesting boys.

For the first time, the public had a glimpse of what the diocese had covered up for decades.

‘Unbridled, unjust and terribly unreasonable assault’

By the first week of May 2006, the church, suddenly in debt more than $1 million and facing a rising number of lawsuits, was studying its financial options. It soon made headlines by announcing it wanted the judge who oversaw the $965,000 settlement to be barred from presiding over the remaining cases.

“The diocese has great concern over the lack of a level playing field,” its lawyer said at the time. “We’re not trying to hide anything. We’re trying to keep prejudice from building.”

Unbeknown to the public, another church attorney was mailing two-page form letters to municipal clerks to secure parish property into individual local trusts.

“This deed into trust shall operate as an assignment of all personal property, tangible and intangible, fixed or moveable, together with all accounts, funds, benefices and entitlements, related to the ownership, operation, management, control, preservation and use of the herein conveyed real estate,” each document says.

As outlined in the papers now on file in town clerk’s offices, the diocese’s bishop is the “trustee” of each trust, each parish pastor is the “trust administrator” and each parish finance council forms the “trust advisors.”

“Thus, the present diocesan protocols and regulations for the administration of parishes remain, in effect, unchanged,” Matano wrote in his private letter to concerned Catholics. 

Speaking at a 2006 Mother’s Day reception at the Woodstock Inn, Matano told attendees the trusts were “an extra layer of protection” from anyone seeking to tap church assets.

“I’m really in a no-win situation,” he said. “I want to be sensitive to victims, but I don’t want to inflict pain on innocent parishioners. It’s certainly just to ask the church to be accountable, but is it just to destroy parishes, schools and other agencies of care to do so?”

Learning about Matano’s statement about protecting the church from “unbridled, unjust and terribly unreasonable assault,” the national Survivors Network of those Abused by Priest blasted the bishop for “attacking deeply wounded men and women who were raped as kids by priests.”

“How can you lash out at them and call their long overdue, David vs. Goliath effort an ‘unbridled, unjust and terribly unreasonable assault?’” survivors wrote in a letter to Matano. 

‘It has a very serious impact on a small, rural diocese’

O’Neill responded more strategically. The lawyer, knowing the church doesn’t pay taxes and its properties aren’t listed at fair market value, sought assessments of the holdings’ true financial worth. 

Former state economist Arthur Woolf reviewed insurance and municipal records to place a “market value” of all Vermont Catholic Church-related property at between $270 million and $500 million. 

An insurance company, for its part, estimated the replacement cost of all parish, school and support buildings at $400 million, noting the number didn’t put a price tag on the underlying land.

Matano, who steadfastly confined his media comments to diocesan-run press outlets, defended the trust idea in a rare 2006 interview. Noting “this is not in any way intended to penalize victims,” the bishop said the plan was designed to reassure Vermont churchgoers who feared the potential loss of their parish holdings.

“They had no part in these awful events of the past,” he said. “I think it’s unfair to penalize them and say they are responsible.”

Matano wasn’t the only Catholic official aiming to shield assets. U.S. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, for example, was head of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 2007 when he worked to move nearly $57 million in church holdings into a cemetery trust to protect them “from any legal claim and liability,” he wrote in a letter to the Vatican.

O’Neill believes the act of shifting assets into trusts broke Vermont’s fraudulent deeds law, which bars any transfer “with intent to avoid a right, debt or duty.” He filed state and federal cases in 2009, charging the diocese not only shielded parish property but also $3.8 million into a pension fund and another $3.7 million into a Vermont Catholic Charities account.

“You can’t take property you have, transfer it and then say it’s beyond the reach of your creditors,” the lawyer explains today.

Headlines about the trust plans soon gave way to news of more lawsuits, more settlements and a string of trials. Juries went on to slam the church with a record $8.7 million verdict in May 2008, a nearly $3.6 million verdict in December 2008 and a $2.2 million verdict in October 2009.

“It’s a very, very large amount of money,” Matano told reporters at the time. “It has a very serious impact on a small, rural diocese.”

To ensure the church paid, a judge placed liens not only on the 32-acre Burlington headquarters and the site of the former St. Joseph’s Orphanage but also a portion of its investment portfolio. By the start of 2010, a second judge overseeing more than two dozen additional lawsuits proposed merging the cases into an unprecedented joint trial.

The diocese, fearing bankruptcy, announced it wanted to settle rather than try to defend against the cases.

With most of its assets in the trusts, the church raised $10 million by selling its Old North End offices and campus — the largest open tract of land on the Lake Champlain waterfront in the state’s most populous city — to the alternative liberal arts Burlington College in 2010.

“This will be truly transformative for the college,” the school’s head, Jane O’Meara Sanders, said at the time.

That was not to be. Instead, the financial burden of the purchase led to the closing of Burlington College in 2016 and caught Sanders in a federal investigation as her husband, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, launched his first White House bid. A Justice Department review reportedly concluded last year without charges. But the resulting headlines — “Wife’s Failure to Save College Is Still Looming Over Sanders,” the New York Times reported on its front page this past summer — continue to reverberate through a second campaign cycle.

The former diocese headquarters is now the site of a 700-unit housing and business complex.

‘Who’s controlling the puppet strings?’

The diocese hoped it was finished with lawsuits, only to find itself again under scrutiny when 2018 BuzzFeed published an article titled “We Saw Nuns Kill Children: The Ghosts of St. Joseph’s Catholic Orphanage.” The story led church and law enforcement leaders to launch separate misconduct investigations and the state Legislature to remove a statute of limitation restriction for survivors to file civil cases.

O’Neill has five new lawsuits pending.

“We’ll see if we can resolve them,” he says today. “If not, we go forward with litigation.”

Matano’s successor, Vermont Catholic Bishop Christopher Coyne, isn’t looking for a fight. Calling for the church to be “fully honest about these sins of our past,” Coyne has released accusers from past nondisclosure agreements and worked with a local and state task force of police and prosecutors now investigating the history of church-wide misconduct.

“I think Bishop Coyne is trying to deal with the legacy problem of abuse,” O’Neill says. “I perceive him as someone who wants to be fair. But whether the amount of money the diocese has is adequate to resolve the cases remains to be seen.”

The diocese didn’t respond to calls for comment other than to report Coyne was away this past week at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops annual general assembly in Baltimore, Maryland. He’s returning home to a church that’s financially stable. But that could change if the latest lawsuits go to trial.

Settling what he thought were the last of the abuse cases long ago, O’Neill dropped his fraudulent deeds fight and allowed the six-year statute of limitations for contesting the issue to pass. But if a future jury awards a big payoff to one of his clients, the lawyer believes a judge could rule the parish trusts to be diocesan assets and therefore available for tapping.

“The fact the bishop is the trustee makes the trusts more vulnerable to attack,” he says. “You’d have to have a judgment before it became a real issue, but if the diocese is unable to pay, we will have no hesitancy to reach for those assets. The church may have transferred them, but who’s controlling the puppet strings?”

Not Matano. He left Vermont in 2013 to become bishop of the larger Diocese of Rochester, N.Y. — which recently became the 20th nationwide to seek bankruptcy protection from creditors impacted by church’s misconduct scandal.

Read the story on VTDigger here: How Vermont’s Catholic Church stashed away a half-billion dollars in assets.

BURLINGTON — A doctor has found Aita Gurung, the man accused of murdering his wife with a meat cleaver in Burlington in 2017, not competent to stand trial. 

Dr. Jonathan Weker determined that Gurung is not competent to stand trial, meaning that he does not have the mental capability to currently understand the murder and attempted murder charges against him. The Attorney General’s Office will be contesting that finding. 

Attorney General TJ Donovan refiled charges against Gurung in September after State’s Attorney Sarah George dismissed the charges against him. George found the state would be unable to disprove Gurung’s planned insanity defense.  

Weker performed the competency examination on Gurung Oct. 3, and his report is under seal. But the docket sheet in the case — obtained by VTDigger as part of a public records request — states that the AG’s office “does not stipulate to the report’s findings of non-competence.” 

Gurung was found competent to stand trial in late December 2017.

Competency is tied to the current mental state of the defendant, and whether an individual is competent to stand trial can change over time. 

The insanity defense refers only to whether or not the defendant was insane at the time of the alleged crime. 

Charity Clarke, Donovan’s spokesperson, said in a statement that the AG’s office remained committed to prosecuting the case. 

“Mr. Gurung has been found to be competent to stand trial since the time this alleged crime occurred,” she said. “This is a new opinion and we will challenge this opinion in Court. Competency is different than sanity.” 

The finding of non-competency indicates that Gurung’s mental health may have deteriorated since he was moved to prison following Donovan’s decision to re-file the charges against him. 

Gurung was moved from the state’s mental health treatment system to prison after the Department of Mental Health said in a hearing that it would not be willing to take Gurung back into its custody due to concerns about federal funding, the security of a facility in Middlesex and other issues. 

A competency hearing is scheduled for Dec. 20, when the state will have the burden to persuade the court by a preponderance of the evidence that Gurung is competent to stand trial. 

Motion to Dismiss

Gurung’s attorney, Sandra Lee, has filed a motion to dismiss the charges against Gurung.  

Lee argues that the AG’s office does not have the jurisdiction to refile the same charges that the State’s Attorney dismissed against Gurung. 

The motion also contests that Donovan’s decision to bring the charges back violates Gurung’s rights by violating double jeopardy, collateral estoppel and his right to a speedy trial. The motion argues that the state’s attorney and attorney general are coequal. 

“The State’s Attorney is not merely the prosecuting officer in the county in which she is elected, but she is also an officer of the state in general matters of criminal law enforcement,” Lee wrote. 

The Attorney General’s Office filed a response to the motion to dismiss that argues that the AG’s office is not bound by the George’s decision. 

Assistant AG Ultan Doyle cites a case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the Attorney General had the authority to prosecute in a case where the state’s attorney in Windsor County declined to bring a DUI charge. 

Since Gurung’s case was dismissed without prejudice, the AG has the ability to refile, Doyle argues. 

The precedent in that case relates only to cases where the state’s attorney declines to initiate criminal prosecution, Lee argued. Without a change in circumstances, the AG does not have the power to override the state’s attorney’s decision to dismiss the charges, she said. 

Lee argued that the second prosecution violates Gurung’s constitutional right to not be tried twice for the same crime and violates his right for collateral estoppel, which bars the AG from relitigating factual issues that have already been decided in the defendant’s favor. 

Assistant AG Doyle countered that the only way to arrive at a not guilty by reason of insanity is at trial, and since no trial occurred in this case, George’s decision to dismiss the charges is not the equivalent of a not guilty by reason of insanity finding. 

That means the refiling of the charges does not violate Gurung’s constitutional rights, Doyle argues. 

Lee also argues that court delays violate Gurung’s right to a speedy trial. Doyle contests this assertion. 

“Given the nature of the charges, the need for lengthy competency evaluations, the lengthy discovery and litigation, and the requested continuances, none of the time that elapsed during the first prosecution is chargeable to the Attorney General’s Office,” Doyle wrote. 

Read the story on VTDigger here: Gurung found not competent to stand trial in meat-cleaver slaying.

A South Burlington man suspected of killing his longtime girlfriend, Anako Lumumba, in May 2018 has been placed on the U.S. Marshals’ list of the country’s 15 most wanted fugitives.

Leroy Headley, 38, fled Vermont following the shooting, and was last known to be in Albany, New York, where he apparently dropped his car and the gun used in the homicide. Headley had two children with Lumumba, who worked as a nurse in the Burlington area. 

“Leroy Headley’s alleged crimes have earned him a spot on this exclusive list we reserve for fugitives we consider the worst of the worst,” U.S. Marshals Service Director Donald Washington said in a statement released Monday morning. 

“We want his elevation to 15 Most Wanted to send a message that our investigation to find him is a top priority. We will use every available resource to bring him to justice,” Washington added. 

The U.S. Marshals have released little information since taking over the manhunt from South Burlington police soon after the killing. The Marshals said in April that Headley may be in Philadelphia, but didn’t say why. 

The Marshals said said Headley has personal ties to Jamaica, where he was born, as well as Las Vegas, Nevada, parts of Massachusetts, Florida, and possibly Montreal and Toronto, in Canada.

The Marshals are offering a $25,000 reward to information leading to Headley’s arrest, with an additional $75,000 being offered by other donors. 

Headley is a 5’ 7” black man with a slight Jamaican accent. The Marshals called him a “modern-day Casanova.”

“He frequents dating sites and has a track record of womanizing, which may help him hide in plain sight as he forms relationships with women who do not know his true identity,” Marshals said in a statement about his placement on its most-wanted list. 

Headley was facing trial in Vermont over teen sex charges. Lumumba said in reports to police that his behavior was becoming increasingly erratic and threatening as that trial neared. 

She told police months before the killing that she feared for her life. “I am afraid that he physically threatens me because he is in possession of a loaded gun and what he says at times is very disturbing and unsettling,” she wrote in a request for a relief-from-abuse order on Dec. 2, 2017.

Police made unsuccessful attempts to seize Headley’s firearms, but then gave up when the temporary RFA order expired because Lumumba failed to appear in court for a hearing on a permanent order. 

Lumumba’s killing sparked a statewide conversation about how domestic violence victims are represented and supported in the legal process. 

Attorney General TJ Donovan said after Lumumba’s killing that he would look into the possibility of providing domestic violence victims with attorneys during the relief-from-abuse process. Earlier this month, he said policymakers should take a more deliberative approach to the problem that focuses on housing and caring for children.

The attorney general said seizing guns in cases when relief-from-abuse orders are issued would be a priority this coming legislative session. “That is a critical time for safety for these women, and time is of the essence,” he said. 

Read the story on VTDigger here: Leroy Headley placed on U.S. Marshals’ 15 most wanted list .

In a case reminiscent of the television series “Breaking Bad,” a St. George couple are due in court next month on charges of making methamphetamine in their mobile home.

Robert Russell and Deanna Russell, both 46, were arrested on Oct. 6 after local and state police, along with the Drug Enforcement Administration, executed a search warrant on their Birch Road property.

The Russells face an arraignment Dec. 3, according to Adam Silverman, a spokesperson for the Vermont State Police. 

State police said in a statement that the residence was cleared of all hazardous materials, which were disposed of properly with help from the Vermont State Police Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement Team and Vermont Hazardous Materials Response Team.

According to search warrant records obtained by VTDigger, police first became aware of the potential meth operation in July, when the Russells’ son, Robert Russell Jr., 25, told police he could smell melting plastic over the last month. Russell Jr. believed his parents were making meth in their bedroom. He also told police about an unreported fire two weeks prior to his conversation with officers. 

Russell Jr. confronted his parents about making meth and “he was thrown out of the house,” the records say.

After speaking with Russell Jr., state police began to track Robert and Deanna Russell’s purchases of pseudoephedrine. 

Pseudoephedrine is one of the main ingredients used to make meth, and is the active ingredient in over-the-counter decongestants and allergy relief medications such as Sudafed. 

In 2006, Congress passed the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act, which in part, regulated the amount of pseudoephedrine individuals are allowed to purchase and established a national tracking system known as the National Precursor Log Exchange. 

Individuals are only allowed to purchase 3.6 grams per day of pseudoephedrine and no more than 9.0 grams in 30 days. 

Records show between Feb. 3 and Oct. 2, Deanna Russell attempted 53 purchases of pseudoephedrine-containing medicines at local pharmacies totaling 107.04 grams. Only 31 of those purchases were authorized, a total of 58.56 grams. 

Between Feb. 5 and Oct. 2. Robert Russell attempted 47 pseudoephedrine purchases totaling 100.32 grams, records show. Twenty-seven purchases were authorized, a total of 58.8 grams. 

A search warrant application by Vermont State Police Detective Sergeant Matthew Hill said it is common practice for individuals to spread out pseudoephedrine purchases over time or ask others to purchase it for them. This process is known as “smurfing.”

On Oct. 4, Vermont State Police Cpl. Andrew Leise responded to a complaint about the home from Rebecca Duchaine, who provided a sworn statement. Court documents do not describe Duchaine’s relationship with the Russell family.

Duchaine told Leise the Russell’s 14-year-old son approached her and asked what meth smells like. The son told Duchaine ammonia-like odors in the home were causing him breathing difficulty and he saw two bottles taped together on a pan in the kitchen. He said the bottles had a white powder in them. 

Duchaine also told police she had contacted Deanna Russell’s mother with her concerns about a possible meth lab. Duchaine also said Deanna Russell had asked her to “buy Sudafed for her ‘allergies,’” which she did, two times in September, for a total of 3.6 grams of pseudoephedrine.

Lastly, Duchaine said Deanna Russell told her Robert Russell had a “crack pipe” in the bedroom.

Hill wrote a request for a search warrant on Oct. 4, which was approved the same day by Judge Gregory Rainville.

Authorities spent most of the day Oct. 5 clearing the mobile home and documenting what they found. Among other items found were several containers with unknown substances inside, digital scales, pharmacy receipts, plastic bottles, various pieces of drug paraphernalia, empty Sudafed packages and two firearms. 

Deputy State’s Attorney Justin Jiron told VTDigger meth lab cases are rare in Vermont. A previous case in Chittenden County occurred in 2012 when Jacob Berino, of Hinesburg, suffered serious injuries when a suspected lab at his home exploded. Four years later, he was ordered to be detained after police found a possible lab in a Shelburne hotel room. 

The Russells’ mobile home is part of a larger mobile home community on Route 2A, which recently rebranded as a resident-owned cooperative, called the St. George Community Cooperative.

Robert and Deanna Russell are also facing a civil suit brought against them by the co-op, saying they have missed rent payments over the last few months. A letter from the Russells says they have incurred medical hardships recently and offered to pay forward the next four months of rent. 

If convicted of the manufacture of methamphetamines, Robert and Deanna Russell could face up to 20 years in prison, depending on specifics in evidence, per Vermont law. 

Read the story on VTDigger here: ‘Breaking Bad’ Vermont: St. George couple accused of cooking meth in mobile home .

This article by Anna Merriman was published by the Valley News on Nov. 15.

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A Quechee man who choked his ex-girlfriend and left her unconscious in the woods in Sharon last December was sentenced to a minimum of 19 months in prison Friday.

Matthew Nilsson, 26, who has been held without bail since his arrest, appeared in Windsor County Superior Court on Friday with shackles around his ankles, and sat silent while he listened to the sentencing.

Under a plea agreement, Nilsson will spend 19 months to 12 years in prison for aggravated domestic assault and will move out of Windsor County to a home in Cambridge, Vermont, when he’s released.

The sentence stems from an incident on Dec. 29, 2018, when authorities say Nilsson met his ex-girlfriend, Emma Seaver, at her apartment before driving to Sharon to participate in a “closing ritual” for their relationship, which had ended a few weeks earlier.

They walked down a trail in the woods by the White River where they laid out a rock ceremony, and Nilsson told his ex-girlfriend, “Hopefully this can be a learning lesson for the two of us,” according to a police affidavit.

Nilsson then choked Seaver until she was unconscious, police said. When she came to, Seaver found that Nilsson was gone, along with her glasses, wallet and car. Seaver, who had a laceration to her lip, cuts to her hand, and scratches to her back and shoulders, walked to a nearby home for help.

Nilsson was arrested the next morning following an extensive manhunt in the Hartford area.

He has two prior assault convictions on his record involving two separate victims.

During the hearing Friday, Nilsson’s attorney, Brian Marsicovetere, said the Quechee man is not at a high risk of reoffending, but he does have trouble in relationships.

“He has a problem controlling his emotions within the context of intense personal relationships,” Marsicovetere said.

Friday’s agreement marked a change from Nilsson’s last court appearance in August, when he pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated domestic assault.

At the time, the plea agreement between Windsor County State’s Attorney David Cahill and Marsicovetere called for 18 months to 12 years in prison, with Nilsson spending the first year in the correctional facility, and the subsequent six months under house arrest.

But Windsor County Superior Court Judge Timothy Tomasi rejected that plea Friday, instructing the prosecutor and defense attorney to either come up with a new plea agreement or put the case on track for a jury trial.

After an afternoon recess, the judge accepted a new plea agreement that called for more jail time, including a month added to Nilsson’s minimum sentence and no opportunity for house arrest.

Because of the new agreement, Nilsson resubmitted a guilty plea to one count of aggravated domestic assault.

The change to the plea agreement wasn’t the only departure from the norm during the hearing.

Before the sentencing discussion started, Probation Officer Terry Rooney, who was involved in the presentencing investigation, told the court that he had filed a motion for continuation Thursday.

He said that he had recently spoken with another ex-girlfriend of Nilsson’s, Ashley Andreas, who was a victim of domestic abuse in her relationship with Nilsson, and he wanted to include her statements about Nilsson in the presentencing investigation.

The information Andreas provided about Nilsson could paint a “much more complete picture,” he added.

But Marsicovetere objected to the motion in court on Friday, saying that since it had been filed only the day before, he didn’t have time to respond.

Tomasi denied the motion Friday.

Both Seaver and Andreas appeared in court but didn’t speak during the proceedings.

Seaver had an arm around Andreas, comforting her while they watched the sentencing. They declined to speak to a reporter.

Seaver previously gave a victim impact statement at Nilsson’s initial plea in the summer.

In that statement she addressed her ex-boyfriend, saying she still has “flashbacks of waking up alone in the dark by the river that night,” and that it’s hard to trust other people. She blamed the state of Vermont for “critically failing victims.”

However, she also brought up a message of strength.

“Thank you for sending me down the path to becoming the woman I am today,” Seaver told Nilsson at the court appearance in August. “You only added fuel to my fire.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Quechee man sentenced for choking ex-girlfriend in the woods in Sharon.

ST. ALBANS – A former St. Albans police officer who was captured on video striking a handcuffed woman in the face while she was in police custody denied a criminal charge in court Monday. 

A police affidavit made public Monday also contradicts earlier statements by the St. Albans police chief about when he first learned about the incident, though he says he still stands by his timeline.  

Jason Lawton, 31, who was a sergeant in St. Albans Police Department at the time of the March 15 alleged assault in the department’s station, pleaded not guilty Monday to a misdemeanor charge of simple assault.

He was released on conditions, including that he not contact the woman he is charged with assaulting, Amy Connelly, 35, of Highgate, 

If convicted, Lawton faces a maximum sentence of a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.

The Vermont Attorney General’s Office, following a Vermont State Police investigation, announced last week it was bringing the criminal charge against Lawton, who has since been fired from the department.

“This is a case that undermines the public trust,” Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan said after the arraignment hearing Monday in Franklin County criminal court in St. Albans. 

“This in my opinion was crime, this did not have to occur,” he added. “This was a woman who was in the care and custody of police who was handcuffed behind her back in a holding cell and she was assaulted — that was a crime.” 

Lawton and his attorney, Rebecca Otey, declined to answer questions as they left the courthouse. 

Donovan said he believed the Franklin County State’s Attorney Office had earlier reviewed the case. Asked if the county prosecutor declined to bring charges against Lawton, Donovan replied, “That’s my understanding.” 

Franklin County State’s Attorney Jim Hughes could not be reached Monday for comment.

Connelly’s lawyer, Albert Fox, said Monday afternoon that he was pleased that the attorney general “eventually” made the decision to charge Lawton.

“I believe it to be aggravated assault, which would make it a felony,” Fox added. “But I’m happy and relieved that they have at least filed something at this point.” 

He added of his client, Connelly, “I think this is a very important victory for her.” 

The Franklin County State’s Attorney’s Office is still prosecuting Connelly for the March 14 incident that led to her being in custody, as well as for allegedly assaulting Lawton at the police department. 

In the March incident, police say Connelly ripped the shirt of the owner at a St. Albans bar while intoxicated and refusing to leave. 

After being transported to the police department, according to court filings and video footage, Connelly, in handcuffs, kicked Lawton before he punched her in the eye.

Connelly faces two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct, unlawful mischief and an additional count of assault against the officer. 

Caught on camera

Connelly, after her arrest, contacted the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont. The organization obtained video footage of the incident through a public records request.

Lawton’s body camera footage shows him eating dinner with another officer as he stops and walks over to Connelly’s cell. He can be seen opening it and asking her to stop kicking on the door as she can be heard crying. 

After she replied, “no,” Connelly stands up with her arms cuffed behind her back.

Lawton pushes her back against the wall with his forearm. 

Connelly can then be seen standing up and raises her leg towards Lawton, who pushes her down onto the cell bench, grabs her shirt near the neck, and punches her in the face. Lawton and two other officers then push her face first toward the ground and place her feet in cuffs.

Lawton tells Connelly she will get an assault charge and go to jail.

“You guys are brutes,” Connelly can he heard saying on the video.

In his affidavit filed in Connelly’s case, Lawton wrote about his actions. 

“I pushed Connelly back, and delivered a front distraction strike to the right side of her face in an effort to gain control of her,” he wrote. 

“The strike had the desired effect as it distracted her from her aggressive behavior,” the affidavit added. “She was then shackled on the ground where we applied leg shackles and secured her to the bar in the holding cell.”

Connelly was later taken by ambulance to the Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans for treatment for her injuries.

Two other St. Albans officers who are seen in the video of the incident. One officer, Michael Ferguson, has since resigned, and the other, Zachary Koch, who St. Albans Police Chief Gary Taylor has called the “least culpable,” served a suspension.

Vermont State Police Det. James Wright investigated the incident, reviewing video of the incident and taking statements from both Ferguson and Koch. Their accounts in the affidavit were consistent with what can be seen in videos of the incident. 

Wright wrote that he tried to interview Lawton, who declined, telling him, “there wasn’t anything else he could tell me that wasn’t in his affidavit.”

Timeline questioned

Taylor, the St. Albans police chief, reported that he learned of the incident in early June after the ACLU requested the video, leading him to launch an internal investigation more than two months after the incident.

That investigation led to Lawton’s firing. 

Taylor has also said that the department’s policy around use-of-force incidents has changed, and it will automatically review all such cases. 

The affidavit filed by Wright contradicts when the chief first learned of the incident.

According to the affidavit, Cpl. Paul Morits of the St. Albans Police Department worked a shift after Lawton. 

He reported that when he came into work at 6 a.m., the morning after the incident, he saw a couple of officers standing over a computer looking at a video he believed was Lawton’s body cam footage. 

Later that day, Morits told Wright, he went into an office where he saw Taylor, Lt. Jason Wetherby and Lt. Benjamin Couture.

“Morits told them that there was a use of force last night and a video that they should probably watch and walked out,” the affidavit stated.

Morits also told Wright that he wasn’t aware if an investigation was conducted into the incident at that time.

“He did hear Sgt. Lawton talking about the incident, stating it was investigated but he was cleared,” Wright wrote in the affidavit. “Morits advised he was not sure of the accuracy of that because he only overheard Lawton talking about it.” 

Morits was interviewed by Wright on Aug. 14 at the state police barracks in Rutland. 

Taylor, reached after Lawton’s arraignment Monday afternoon, said he disputed Morits’ version of events. 

“He certainly didn’t tell me about it,” Taylor said. “What he is alleging is completely inconsistent with who I am, or who I’ve ever been, it’s plain false.” 

The police chief added, “I can tell you no one told me about the incident until the public records request.”

Wetherby and Couture, both reached late Monday, said they couldn’t remember Morits bringing up the incident with them the morning after, or at any time.

“I really do not recall that happening,” Couture said. “I was surprised when I read that in the affidavit.”

Wetherby said such a conversation never took place. 

“It didn’t happen,” he said. “I honestly can’t even remember him coming into the room that day.”  

Morits, who retired from the police department Friday, could not be reached Monday for comment.  

Asked if Morits’ retirement was related to the Lawton case, Taylor, the police chief, said he wasn’t sure. “I don’t know the answer,” he said. 

Read the story on VTDigger here: Former St. Albans officer denies assaulting handcuffed prisoner.

Correction: The man appearing in the main photo published with a previous version of this article was incorrectly identified as Jayveon Cabellero. It was Jason Lawton, a former St. Albans police officer charged with simple assault on Monday.

BARRE –  A jury convicted Jayveon Caballero of second-degree murder in the shooting death of a man in Montpelier stemming from a fight at a bar earlier that night in nearby Barre.

Caballero, 31, stood straight between his two attorneys at the defense table Monday night and appeared to be looking down at the verdict was read. 

The verdict was not as harsh as the first-degree murder conviction in the January 2017 death of Markus Austin that prosecutors had been seeking.

Caballero’s attorneys had argued that the shooting did not meet the standards of “willful,” “intentional,” and “premeditated” required for the jury to return a first-degree murder conviction.

They asked the jury to return a conviction of a lesser charge than first degree, raising the possibility of an involuntary manslaughter conviction.  

The jury began its deliberations around 5 p.m. Monday, returning its verdict a little after 10 p.m. 

“As to the charge of first-degree murder how does the jury find?” Judge Mary Morrissey asked the jury foreperson.

“We find the defendant not guilty,” he responded. 

“And as to the charge of second-degree murder how does the jury find?” Morrissey asked.

“We find the defendant guilty,” the foreperson replied.

A charge of second-degree murder carries a sentence of 20 years to life in prison. A first-degree murder conviction carries a sentenced of 35 years to life in prison. 

Austin was the first player signed by the semi-pro Vermont Frost Heaves basketball team, which folded in 2011. He was 33 years old when he died. 

In the two years prior to the shooting he had worked as a mental health specialist at the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital.

The shooting on Barre Street in Montpelier happened early in the morning of Jan. 22, 2017, in the parking lot of Austin’s apartment where he lived with his girlfriend and young child. 

After the verdict was announced Monday night, Caballero was ordered to continue to be held without bail. No sentencing date was set, and attorneys are expected to file post-trial motions. 

Attorneys for both the prosecution and defense left the courtroom Monday night declining comment on the jury’s verdict. 

Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan, whose office prosecuted the case, issued a statement late Monday night.

“We are grateful to the jury for their service, and we agree with the verdict,” Donovan said in the statement.

“This unnecessary act of violence should not have occurred in our community,” he added. “Our team will continue to hold accountable perpetrators of violent crimes, like the one committed by Mr. Caballero.”

A central issue in the case centered on Caballero’s intent, with prosecutors contending that he targeted Austin out of revenge, while his attorney argued that although he fired his gun, he didn’t mean to kill.

The shooting took place, according to prosecutors, just hours after a bar fight in Barre between the two men. In that fight, Austin reportedly struck Caballero’s girlfriend, Desiree Carey, in her face and broke her jaw.

Later that night, Caballero went to Austin’s apartment and when Austin arrived Caballero shot and killed him, according to the prosecution.

During opening arguments in the trial that began Nov. 7, Assistant Attorney General Elizabeth Anderson laid out the prosecution’s case. 

“When Markus punched Desiree in the face, the defendant was motivated by revenge,” Anderson told jurors, “setting the scene for him to execute a plan that culminated in him intentionally firing his gun at Markus and killing him, and for that, he is guilty of first-degree murder.”

Daniel Sedon, in his argument to the jury, didn’t dispute the events leading to the confrontation in the parking lot of Austin’s apartment in Montpelier. 

However, the defense attorney said, Caballero never intended to kill Austin. 

“He intended to shoot, but he didn’t intend to kill anybody,” Sedon said. “If it was your intention to cause the death of another human being, you would’ve fired more than once, and you would’ve fired in the direction of that person.”

Sedon told jurors that the shot fired by Caballero struck the windshield of Austin’s vehicle, and that it didn’t puncture the driver’s side and wouldn’t have hit a passenger had one had been in the vehicle.

The bullet struck the windshield in the left-most, bottom-most corner, closer to hitting the pillar of the vehicle then it was to striking the car’s driver, the defense attorney added. 

However, the bullet struck the tempered glass, and curved toward Austin, Sedon argued, striking him in the aorta and killing him.

It was the first murder in Montpelier in a century. 

Read the story on VTDigger here: Killer of ex-Frost Heaves player convicted of second-degree murder.

This article by Anna Merriman was published by the Valley News on Nov. 18.

BOSTON — A felon from Vershire was arrested last week after allegedly bringing an assault rifle and other firearms from Vermont into Boston.

Dominick Bailey, 54, is being held on $150,000 bail after he pleaded not guilty in the South Boston Division of Boston Municipal Court on charges of unlicensed possession of an assault weapon, carrying a loaded firearm, possession of a large-capacity firearm, carrying a rifle or shotgun and unlawful possession of ammunition.

The charges stem from an incident Thursday, when police learned that Bailey and Glenn Lacedra, 58, of Revere, Mass., were bringing guns into South Boston with plans to sell or trade the weapons in the city, according to a press release from the Boston Police Department. Officers with the Police Special Investigations Unit along with the police department’s SWAT team and Massachusetts State Police arrested the men as they pulled into the parking lot of a South Boston skating rink.

After searching the car, police found a .223 caliber Palmetto Armory AR-15 rifle, a 9mm Taurus PT92 handgun, a .22 caliber Walther P22, a long barrel Thompson Arms Co./Encore pistol and several rounds of ammunition, according to the release.

Boston has a ban on assault weapons that was enacted in 1989. Bailey has a long criminal history around Vershire, with convictions for at least five felonies and 11 misdemeanors. Past charges have included forgery, lewd and lascivious conduct, possessing stolen property, receiving stolen property, possession of a weapon, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

In 2009, Bailey was convicted of unauthorized removal of human remains for digging up his father’s urn from a Thetford cemetery and putting it in his living room.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Vershire man arrested on gun charges in Boston.

ST. JOHNSBURY — Again and again Monday night, authorities asked community members to speak up about drug deals and substance abuse in town.  

So a few of them did. 

“If you’re under 18, it seems to me that there’s a serious lack of help,” said one audience member at a forum in St. Johnsbury, who described his yearslong attempt to assist a drug-addicted teen he looks after.

The event featured panelists from law enforcement, treatment and recovery programs and the abuse-prevention field, and the man said some of the agencies represented there had turned him down because the addicted person was under 18. 

“Where’s his help?” asked the man, who declined afterward to give his name.

Officials organized the forum after a law enforcement sweep last week snared 16 people accused of involvement with drug trafficking in the Northeast Kingdom. Half of those charged or arrested live in St. Johnsbury.

Some of those arrests came after tips from citizens, U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan said at the event.

“People … called and said, ‘There’s drug dealers in this apartment building,’” Nolan said. “That is so helpful to us, and we can investigate in a way that prioritizes keeping the caller safe.”

About 50 people attended the forum at the St. Johnsbury School. Other audience members said they had called authorities without seeing results.

One speaker, who said she’s a property manager in St. Johnsbury, described seeing out-of-state cars come to the property and stay for a few days. During those times, strangers would filter in and out of the property, leaving tenants anxious.

Panelists had identified those observations as signs of possible drug activity.

The speaker said she had called state police but hadn’t heard back. She asked what kind of information people should report if they believe drug activity is happening near them.

Vermont State Police Lt. Teresa Randall, who heads the agency’s narcotics investigation unit for northern Vermont, told the property manager that details like license plates are small observations that play a large role in an investigation.

Randall said when citizens feel like police aren’t doing anything, it’s often because officers are undercover and speaking about an investigation would jeopardize it.

“There’s a lot more going on in our community as far as drug work — things that are happening right now — that we may not see a result for a year, two years,” Randall said.

Orleans County State’s Attorney Jennifer Barrett said the Northeast Kingdom has seen several concerning changes in recent years.

She said she’s observed an increased number of out-of-state dealers setting up shop in the region, as well as a rise in drug-related violence.

“We are seeing kidnapping, we’re seeing attempted murder cases, we’re seeing homicides that are all related to drugs,” said Barrett, sitting next her Caledonia County counterpart, acting State’s Attorney Jessica Zaleski.

John Caceres, a spokesperson for the Bradford-based Valley Vista treatment center, said that helping addicted people build support networks and connections is crucial to enduring recoveries.

In a way, he said, the cooperation among the agencies at the event was an example of that.

“What you’re seeing up here [is], we’re all connected at a certain level,” Caceres said. “Our hope is that by doing that, the people we serve also get connected.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: After drug sweep, St. J forum offers a chance to voice concerns .

WILLISTON — A pair of vacant lots on Route 2A in Williston will become the new site for a Vermont State Police barracks and VTrans park and ride.

The two locations will share an access road which will run parallel to Route 2A, separated by a 75-foot buffer.

The Agency of Transportation will widen portions of Route 2A and build designated turning lanes to access the barracks and park and ride.

The barracks is a necessity for the state police, whose current location on the north side of the I-89 Exit 12 interchange, has infrastructure challenges and poses difficulties for troopers’ response times. A park and ride has been sought by Willistonians since a previous park and ride became the site of a hotel in the late 1990s.

But neighbors on either side of Route 2A have raised concerns over the project, citing noise and light pollution, increased traffic congestion, impact to wildlife and a decrease in property value.

State Police Capt. Garry Scott said the current barracks was built in the early 1990s. He has been stationed there for 20 years. 

The state police have been working on a 40-year plan to replace all the barracks in Vermont. The barracks in Williston is the largest in the state.

The Williston barracks is larger because it also houses a 911 call center, Fish and Wildlife offices and various police assets, like Marine Division boats, snowmobiles, bomb squad and SWAT trucks.

The new barracks will also absorb the Vermont Information Center, which is currently located off Harvest Lane in Williston in a leased space, and is made up of various civilian and law enforcement staff.

Scott said there will be a cost offset by no longer leasing the information center space but did not have a figure on the lease costs.

“We’ve continued to look at this process to be as fiscally responsible as we can,” Scott said.

The barracks is still in the permitting process but Scott hopes to break ground next summer. Scott said the new barracks will cost roughly $21 million.

The funding is coming from the state Legislature’s capital improvements bill. Rep. Alice Emmons, D-Springfield, chair of the House Corrections and Institutions Committee, said $5.4 million was set aside for the Williston barracks. When the Legislature reconvenes in January, Emmons said lawmakers will be revisiting the appropriations for the Williston barracks. 

“The projected cost is around $21 million,” Emmons said. “And we’re saying ‘Let’s see if we can rein that in a little more.’”

Emmons also said lawmakers will be discussing barracks across the state which have yet to be replaced, saying other barracks which are smaller usually come in with a cost between $6 million and $7 million.

Scott said there are several problems with the current barracks. It has flooded multiple times leading to damaged equipment and lost paperwork. People have broken into the barracks. There is no secure parking area for civilian employees, like 911 operators, who late at night, have had encounters with suspects just released after processing. The holding cells for suspects are not secure compared to other barracks and police stations, as they have had suspects break the doors and run through the barracks. In the cells, he also said the toilets have allowed for suspects to flush drugs.

The largest problem is being able to access the boats and trucks needed for specific calls, Scott said. With the proximity to Lake Champlain, Scott said Marine Division boats are needed for rescue operations when someone falls through the ice, for example. Currently, the storage area in the rear of the barracks is very crowded, with little room to navigate between the vehicles. Scott said it may take an hour for troopers to move vehicles out of the way of a boat needed for a rescue on the lake.

The new barracks will have two large garages behind the building which will house all the trucks and boats. He said the long response time would effectively be eliminated at the new site.

There are currently 30-50 employees on site any given day with a maximum of 75, Scott said, and he expects that number to remain about the same.

The state is planning to sell the land the current barracks sits on.

Park and Ride

Williston’s director of planning Matt Boulanger said Williston residents have been wanting a park and ride after one north of Exit 12 closed to build a hotel in the late 1990s. Plans call for the park and ride to be located north of the new barracks and south of I-89’s Exit 12. It will have about 140 parking spaces.

“There’s been a longstanding goal in the comprehensive plan for the town that Williston should have a park and ride,” Boulanger said.

The nearest state-operated park and ride is located in Richmond. Boulanger said he has heard from residents about their frustration with having to use the Richmond location and finding it overcrowded.

At the Oct. 22 Development Review Board meeting, members gave pre-application approval with recommendations to look more closely at how the plan complies with Williston bylaws, traffic studies and security plans. 

VTrans Project Manager Tina Bohl said the park and ride will be federally funded and will cost between $2.5 million and $5 million. Bohl is also hoping to break ground next summer with completion planned for 2021.

Doug and Terry Williams live on Route 2A directly next to where the new barracks will be built, where they have lived for 22 years. The Williamses had no problems with the original plans for the park and ride access until they heard about the latest amendment to move the designated lane further up the road, and directly on their front lawn.

The Williamses are very passionate about their house. When they saw a for sale sign, they had to jump on the opportunity.

“It’s the house we plan to die in,” they said.

Doug Williams said the best part of his home is the backyard and the hedges he has put in over time. Next to a large patch of undeveloped land, wildlife constantly visit their yard and they welcome it, saying they will spend almost every night looking and listening to birds, squirrels, deer and wild cats.

“We love it out there,” Terry Williams said.

The Williamses said the state has been helpful with them to mitigate impact to their property, but the plans still involve removing part of their driveway to widen the road.

Their bedroom is on the north side of the house, and the Williamses are concerned with headlights shining through the windows. VTrans has said they will build a raised buffer with trees to reduce the light pollution.

A larger concern for the Williams is traffic congestion. As it stands currently, traffic during peak hours on Route 2A will back up from the Exit 12 interchange to Walker Hill Road at least. The Williamses said they don’t know how a trooper would be able to leave for a call during heavy traffic. 

This is a problem Scott said troopers have at the barracks now.

“As we head into the season, we can’t take a left to go to the interstate,” Scott said. “Even putting on blue lights and sirens at this time of year, does not mean we are able to get out.”

Terry Williams is currently battling leukemia, and her doctors have told her to reduce stress in her life.

In a letter to the state after they first heard about the new changes, Doug Williams said the state is killing his wife by “destroying” their home.

“There must be a way to complete the project without ruining our neighborhood, our homes, and our lives,” he wrote.

Terry and Doug Williams said they would welcome a payment from the state in exchange for the loss of their front yard.

Larry Reed and his wife live across Route 2A from the Williamses. Reed has lived there for 50 years, and is equally passionate about his property and his privacy.

Reed said he has done most of the work on his property by hand and has increased the value by over $250,000 in that time after buying it for just over $10,000.

Reed and the Williams are very concerned with how the projects nearby will affect their property value, saying it will reduce the value “dramatically.”

Like Doug and Terry Williams, Reed said he didn’t have a problem with the project until moving the access road would cause people leaving the barracks and park and ride to shine their headlights directly into the front of his house.

A condition of the approval was to address noise and light pollution with the neighbors.

Reed and the Williams are equally concerned about flood lights at the new barracks shining on their property.

“Our goal is definitely to be a good neighbor,” VSP Capt. Scott said. “We fully appreciate having this being built next to your house and having giant lights — that’s not something we want to do and it doesn’t need to be that way all the time.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Plans for new state police barracks, park and ride in Williston move forward.

Federal prosecutors say a man facing a charge of conspiring to distribute methamphetamine was seen by agents delivering about 10 kilograms of the drug “destined” for Vermont.

Though who that man was conspiring with and where he was spotted with the drug is not clear from court filings in the case. 

Francisco Buenrostro Delgado pleaded not guilty Monday in federal court in Burlington to the felony charge against him of conspiracy to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine.

He was ordered detained pending a detention hearing set for Wednesday in front of federal Magistrate Judge John Conroy.

Court records filed in the case reveal little about what transpired leading to the federal charge against him.

The one-paragraph indictment leveled against him alleges that in February 2019 “in the district of Vermont and elsewhere” that Buenrostro Delgado conspired to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine.

The indictment was returned by a federal grand jury in Vermont on Feb. 28. However, the indictment was ordered placed under seal until his arrest.

Court filings state that the indictment was unsealed Oct. 16 when Buenrostro Delgado was arrested in Atlanta, Georgia.

He later appeared in federal court in Atlanta and was ordered to Vermont to face the felony charge leading to court appearance Monday in Burlington.

Federal prosecutors in Vermont submitted a motion this week seeking to detain Buenrostro Delgado pending trial, stating that the evidence against him is strong. 

“Agents observed Buensrostro Delgado personally deliver approximately ten kilograms of methamphetamine, destined for Vermont, in February of this year,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Drescher wrote in the filing.

“Laboratory analysis concluded this methamphetamine was approximately 92% pure,” the prosecutor added. 

The advisory federal sentencing guideline range for such an offense based on that amount of the drug is between 235 to 293 months, the filing stated. 

Drescher also wrote that Buenrostro Delgado, a citizen of Mexico, has no ties to Vermont and “presents a risk of flight.” 

The filing does not state the law enforcement agency involved in the case or where Buenrostro Delgado was allegedly spotted with the drugs. 

The court filings also do not state who Buenrostro Delgado conspired with to distribute the drug.  

Drescher, through a spokesperson, declined Tuesday to comment. 

A person who answered the phone at the federal Drug Enforcement Administration office for New England, who would not give his name, said Tuesday he would have no comment on the matter.

Adam Silverman, a spokesperson for Vermont State Police, said in an email Tuesday that he didn’t have any information about the case or the defendant.

“You’ll need to check with the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” he wrote. 

Buenrostro Delgado’s attorney, William Kraham of Brattleboro, also could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

At a hearing of the state’s Joint Legislative Justice Oversight earlier this fall, state health department officials, in their report to the lawmakers, said that meth use in the state remains low, while the use of other stimulants, such as cocaine and prescription drugs, is rising. 

Read the story on VTDigger here: Federal prosecutors in Vermont charge man they say delivered 10 kilos of meth.

Hate crime incidents reported by Vermont law enforcement agencies continued to rise in 2018, reaching their highest number since the Federal Bureau of Investigation began collecting data in 1995.  

Vermont law enforcement reported 45 incidents of hate crimes last year, up from 34 in 2017, and almost a six-fold increase since 2015, when there were only eight such incidents reported.

The most hate crime incidents reported in Vermont in a single year before the recent increase was 32 in 2005.

“What we are really seeing in 2018 is a troubling upward trend in reported hate crimes since 2015,” said Julio Thompson, director of the civil rights unit of the Vermont Attorney General’s Office.

In the 2018 report, released by the FBI, 30 of the 45 hate crime incidents in Vermont were attributed to the victim’s race. Eleven were based on religion, three on sexual orientation and one on disabilities.

However, Vermont’s hate crime rate could be much higher than it appears, as accurate reporting is notoriously difficult, with the majority of incidents going unreported by victims and by law enforcement agencies. 

In a 2018 VPR-Vermont PBS poll, 40% of respondents said more should be done to address racist attitudes in the state. 

However 13% responded that “too much” was being done to bring attention to racial issues while 16% said racism was not a problem in Vermont at all.

Those in law enforcement have argued that Vermont’s current spike in hate crimes is a result of clearer reporting criteria for police as well as a more active community that is willing to speak out about crimes committed because of racial bias.

But Thompson said the Attorney General’s Office does not believe better reporting standards are the reason hate crimes have been rising steadily since 2015.

“I don’t think that difference in law enforcement reporting in Vermont would account for this kind of jump alone,” Thompson said.

Thompson along with Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, both blame President Donald Trump and the political climate in Washington, D.C., for making hate-motivated crime  tolerated throughout the country, and Vermont.

“Unfortunately, I think it is somewhat enhanced by D.C. politics and by social media,” Sears said. 

“We are taking steps to try to deal with it through more and more publicity and more and more speaking out,” he added.

Rep. Kevin Christie, D-White River Junction, a member of the House Judiciary Committee and one of the few people of color in Vermont’s Legislature, said he has requested a bill to be drafted for the upcoming session that would call for a study of the state’s hate crime statutes.

Nationally, there were 7,120 reported hate crimes in 2018, a slight decrease compared to 2017, when there were a total of 7,175 hate crimes reported. This coincides with the number of hate groups rising to a record high – 1,020 – in 2018, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

“Rather than trying to tamp down hate, as presidents of both parties have done, President Trump elevates it – with both his rhetoric and his policies,” said Heidi Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center, in a statement. 

“He’s given people across America the go-ahead to act on their worst instincts,” she added. 

The white nationalist group Patriot Front was the only hate organization active in Vermont in 2018, the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate crimes across the country, found. The neo-Nazi group was founded in the wake of the violent 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and uses secret online chat forums to communicate.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Number of hate crimes reported by law enforcement in Vermont continues to rise.

Guards at the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield quelled what the Department of Corrections called an “attempted unit takeover” at Vermont’s largest prison on Tuesday. 

Corrections Commissioner Mike Touchette said in a press release that the “disturbance” began at 10:15 a.m. when an inmate attacked the guard on duty with a blunt weapon. Two other inmates simultaneously attacked another inmate. 

“Almost immediately, other officers responded to the incident, the first of whom deflected an attempted assault by using pepper spray to disable his attacker, before continuing on to the other three inmates who had instigated the assaults, and again using pepper spray to subdue the attackers,” the press release said. 

Prison staff then locked other inmates in their cells, while “securing” those involved in the assault. The assaulted officer sustained minor injuries.

About 30 minutes later, two other inmates in the unit barricaded themselves in a cell. Special response teams from Southern State and Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility in Rutland responded. 

After an unsuccessful effort to speak with the inmates, guards “deployed a handheld diversionary device into the cell to safely resolve the situation.” Often called “flashbangs,” handheld diversionary devices are non-lethal explosives used to gain a tactical advantage in potentially violent situations. 

Touchette said the “response today from all officers involved was swift and professional, bringing a dangerous and escalating situation quickly under control.”

Vermont State Police are investigating the incident.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Guards suppress ‘attempted unit takeover’ at Southern State prison.

The court-appointed receiver overseeing Jay Peak and other properties at the center of an EB-5 investor fraud scandal is alleging the federal government is delaying the process for more than 70 of those investors to become permanent U.S. residents.

Michael Goldberg, the receiver, has a lawsuit against the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and other top-ranking federal officials, calling for the agency to act on the petitions from more than 70 investors in the Vermont EB-5 financed projects.

“USCIS has offered no reason for the delay, and has not indicated a time frame in which a response can be expected, and has only provided automated form responses to inquiries, all of which undermine confidence in its intent to adjudicate the petitions within a reasonable time absent court intervention,” the filing stated.

Goldberg filed his lawsuit against the USCIS in federal court in Miami, which is where some of the other civil lawsuits related to the EB-5 scandal have played out primarily due to Quiros’ business ties to Florida.

More than 800 foreign investors from 74 countries each put up at least $500,000 in EB-5 projects proposed by the developers of Jay Peak and other initiatives in northern Vermont.

Those developers were Jay Peak’s owner at the time, Ariel Quiros, and Jay Peak’s former CEO and president, Bill Stenger.

Both Quiros and Stenger, as well as two of their associates, now face federal criminal charges of wire fraud and making false statements to the government related to a failed EB-5 financed project to build a biomedical research center in the Northeast Kingdom community of Newport.

Each investor hoped to become eligible for permanent U.S. residency in exchange for the investments. If their $500,000 investment led to the creation of 10 jobs, an investor became eligible for permanent U.S. residency.

Several of the projects, including AnC Bio Vermont, and a Stateside condo development at Jay Peak, which didn’t get finished, failed to meet promised job creation targets, required by the USCIS when federal and state regulators put the brakes on the projects in April 2016 by bringing civil enforcement actions against Stenger and Quiros.

Since taking over as the court-appointed receiver, Goldberg made finishing the Stateside condos at Jay Peak a priority in an effort to meet the job targets and help dozens of investors in the project to obtain citizenship.

With funds from a settlement, completed work on Stateside condo village project at Jay Peak, known as Phase VI.

Goldberg obtained the funds to do that after reaching an agreement with Raymond James & Associates Inc. to resolve claims that the financial services assisted Quiros in diverting investor funds. Raymond James, which admitted no wrongdoing as part of the settlement, agreed in April 2017 to pay the receivership $150 million.

About $20 million of the Raymond James settlement went to finish the Stateside project.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as state regulators in separate civil legal action brought in 2016, accused Quiros and Stenger of misusing $200 million of the more than $400 million raised from investors through the federal EB-5 immigrant investor program meant to fund a series of projects, including massive upgrades at Jay Peak.

The developers started to run out of funding for the developments in 2014, and by the time the SEC filed its investor fraud lawsuit in April 2016, about 400 investors in three incomplete projects had not received “unconditioned” green cards.

Investors who have not received that status include those who put money into the Burke Mountain Hotel & Conference Center project, which opened in September 2016, as well as other investors in the Stateside project.

Also, most investors in a failed project headed by the two developers to build the proposed $110 million AnC Bio Vermont facility in Newport were unable to get their green cards for their investments in that project.

Many of investors in that AnC Bio Vermont project have been offered the option of a refund of their $500,000 investment, or have agreed to have that money “redeployed” into a different EB-5 project as a way to obtain their green cards.

Goldberg filing stated that over 2017 adjudications of I-829 petitions by USCIS for the investors “slowed to a trickle or stopped completely.”

Then, the filing stated, in JUly 2018, USCIS filed a notice of termination for the Vermont EB-5 Regional Center, the state-run entity overseeing the EB-program in Vermont.

In taking that action against the regional center, USCIS cited the “lax oversight” of the state-run regional center that “allowed the fraud to occur in the first place.”

The state has since contested that determination, seeking the ability to “wind down” the operations of the regional center to allow those investors in EB-5 projects in Vermont to continue to move forward in seeking permanent U.S. residency.

Though USCIS has reiterated in decision to close the center in September, the state is still taking steps to keep it operating without taking on new projects. 

That situation, according to Goldberg’s filing, is “lending further uncertainty to Plaintiffs’ immigration journeys.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Jay Peak receiver takes USCIS to court over green card delays.

BRATTLEBORO — Municipal leaders who’ve made headlines debating whether to sue local mom-and-pop pharmacies for helping to raise the town’s opioid-overdose rate to the highest in the state have dropped the idea.

“I think our local pharmacies are doing their due diligence, and I don’t have any evidence that they’re not,” Brattleboro Selectman Tim Wessel said Tuesday night as his board voted unanimously against the proposal.

Brattleboro sparked news this fall when, considering whether to join a growing roster of localities in a series of multi-district federal lawsuits, it talked of targeting small providers as well as national drug manufacturers and distributors and big-box chain pharmacies and benefit managers.

“I think it would be morally reprehensible to exclude any local pharmacies,” Wessel said at a board meeting last month. “Even though I am a huge fan of our local pharmacies and any pharmacy that operates as a family run business, I think we have to look at the entire picture. It’s a chain of links from the doctor to the pharmacy benefit managers to the pharmacies. All along the line, everyone’s role has to be examined.”

Bennington was the first Vermont town and St. Albans the first Green Mountain city to join national lawsuits on the issue, although neither has debated whether to include local druggists.

According to Brattleboro figures for the years 2006 to 2012, the town’s Rite Aid chain stores reported the most opioid dosage units in town at 2.7 million, with the locally owned Hotel Pharmacy second at 2.4 million, Walgreens third at 2 million and the locally owned Brattleboro Pharmacy fourth at 380,000 (the latter store’s lesser figure reflects the fact it opened in the fall of 2010).

Staffers at the town’s two locally owned pharmacies have blamed the problem on a “perfect storm” of the nation’s drugmakers introducing opioids at a time when authorities began to evaluate health care providers based on how well they managed patients’ pain, creating top-down pressure throughout the supply chain.

“All pharmacies and pharmacists have a legal responsibility when filling a prescription,” Brattleboro Pharmacy owner Andrew Miller wrote in a recent email to the Selectboard. “Who can explain specifically what the retail pharmacies are being charged with in this complaint, what they have done wrong and what role they have in the opioid crisis that they should be sued for?”

In response, the Selectboard said Tuesday it had information about national-chain pharmacies ignoring and violating laws that require they monitor and report suspicious orders. But the town can’t prove smaller stores did the same.

“We’ve taken preliminary measures to see what we can find out about the local pharmacies,” Selectwoman Elizabeth McLoughlin said Tuesday, “and at this time we have nothing to essentially charge them with.”

Added Selectman Daniel Quipp: “I don’t feel like I could stand up and talk to somebody who owned one of our local pharmacies and say, ‘This is why you have to be in this suit.’”

And Selectman David Schoales: “There’s no evidence of local culpability and there’s really no basis for us to put them through a legal process.”

Brattleboro isn’t the only Vermont locality struggling with addiction and aggravators such as poverty and mental illness. But the town, the first exit off Interstate 91 and the nearest to the New England heroin-route hubs of Holyoke, Massachusetts, and Hartford, Connecticut, has seen opiate use skyrocket from 20 overdoses in 2010 to a state high of upward of 100 and five resulting deaths this past year.

Brattleboro is taking its case to court in hopes of recovering municipal money spent on related police and public safety issues. In choosing to use the same legal team and terms as nearby Bennington, the town will forgo joining a related national lawsuit that automatically includes every community and county in the United States unless a locality opts out.

Brattleboro won’t have to invest any money and little time on the case, as lawyers will pay all court costs and receive 25% of any financial winnings.

Although local mom-and-pop pharmacies are off the lawsuit, they’re not necessarily off the hook.

“If somebody came up with hard evidence,” Selectboard Chairwoman Brandie Starr said, “we retain the right anytime to bring a pharmacy back into a suit.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Brattleboro won’t sue mom-and-pop pharmacies over opioids.

This article by Anna Merriman was published by the Valley News on Nov. 20.

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A well-known Barnard blacksmith who spent months “grooming” and sexually assaulting a young girl he knew has been sentenced to more prison time than originally planned.

“The court appreciates that this is a significant sentence. That is because this was incredibly significant and serious conduct,” Windsor Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Mann said in court Wednesday.

She sentenced Gregory Clasby, 47, to seven to 15 years in prison Wednesday after rejecting part of the plea deal agreed on by Clasby’s lawyer and Windsor County Deputy State’s Attorney Heidi Remick. Clasby pleaded guilty to lewd and lascivious conduct with a child in April.

Taking into account the four years and nine months Clasby has already spent in jail following his 2015 arrest, he would have been released in July under the original agreement.

Now, his earliest release date is in 2022.

The seriousness of the crime, including the age of the victim, the trust she had in Clasby, and the lifelong impact the crime will have on her and her family were all reasons for issuing a higher sentence, Mann said in her decision.

“It does not appear that he yet appreciates the level of harm that has been caused to (the victim),” Mann said.

Clasby appeared in court Wednesday, staring silently ahead as Remick detailed the assault, which she said occurred over a period of months in 2014 and 2015 when the victim was under 10 years old.

Remick said Clasby made himself “indispensable” to the girl’s family and then “shattered the breach of trust” with the assault.

When he was arrested in 2015, Clasby said the interactions were “mutual” and later told investigators that he believed he was “the most qualified to help (the victim) get through this,” Remick said in court.

The victim’s mother, who spoke in court Wednesday, called Clasby a “sick individual” and said her daughter would have to deal with the effects of the assault for the rest of her life.

Clasby addressed the court prior to the judge’s decision, apologizing for a “series of decisions that (he) should not have made.”

Clasby said he didn’t live up to his duty to protect the girl and look out for her.

“I had one job and I blew it,” he read from a statement.

But Clasby said he’s changed and is making the most of his time in prison, taking poetry classes and being supportive of other inmates who are having difficulty fitting in. He also said he is planning on looking to the future, hoping to move in with his parents in New York when he’s released.

On the last line of his prepared statement, Clasby started crying, telling the court through a broken voice, “I never intended for any of this.”

His attorney, Chris Montgomery, also mentioned Clasby’s good behavior in prison, and referenced a letter written by an employee at Southern State Correctional Facility, where Clasby is being held, in which the employee called him a model inmate. Montgomery said Clasby “crossed a line” but said he’s willing to participate in a treatment program to ensure it never happens again.

In response to Remick’s remark that Clasby believed he could help the victim overcome the assault, Montgomery said Clasby, like everyone, feels a need to do good.

“He feels a duty to others. … He always means well,” Montgomery said

Clasby hung his head and exited the court in silence after Mann read out the sentence Wednesday.

For the victim’s mother, who spoke in an interview after the appearance, the judge’s decision was a relief.

(The Valley News as a general practice does not name victims of sexual assault and is quoting the mother anonymously to avoid identifying the victim.)

“I’m really pleased. It’s better than I expected,” she said.

She added that she’s not surprised prison employees say Clasby is a model inmate.

“He knows how to behave. He’s manipulative. … He can play by the rules and make people like him,” she said.

The victim’s mother said that she is wildly protective of her daughter, who she said is still struggling but is tough. She called her daughter “strong, resilient, and happy,” saying that she has a great spirit.

Still, the pain of the assault, and of what her daughter lost, is still very raw.

“When she was molested she still believed in Santa Claus, and the tooth fairy, and Greg,” the mother said. “She looked up to him.”

Following his release Clasby will be on probation, which can be transferred over to New York state if he decides to move in with his parents. He’s ordered to have no contact with the victim, not be around any children, and not be on the internet without supervision.

Clasby was well-known in Barnard for his work on motorcycles and was featured on the TV show “American Chopper“.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Judge increases sentence for Barnard blacksmith who abused girl.

The state’s only juvenile detention facility, which has been the target in recent years of legal action over its restraint practices, now has no youth within its walls to supervise. 

It’s the first time the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in Essex has been empty since it opened more than 30 years ago.

The Woodside facility, built for 30 beds, is for youths in need of treatment ages 10 to 18, and is overseen by the Vermont Department for Children and Families. 

Up to about a year ago, Woodside had been housing six to 16 youths at one time. 

However, in recent months those numbers have fallen to the low single digits. And this week that number fell to zero.

Vermont Defender General Matthew Valerio, whose office represents juveniles in court, said he learned around noon Wednesday that the only youth at the Woodside facility had left its care. 

“This is quite extraordinary,” Valerio said Thursday. “This really is evidence of a shift in both demographics as well as attitudes as to how we deal with kids to get the best results for them.”

He added, “I also honestly believe that the work that we’ve done over the last few years to bring light to what we saw as problems at the facility has persuaded the people who would put kids in Woodside from doing so.”

Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Thursday he believed that Woodside’s low numbers are attributed to several factors.

Those factors, he said, included the legal action taken against the facility, different approaches in the criminal justice system for “emerging adults,” and increased use of community-based resources.

Ken Schatz, commissioner of the Department for Children and Families, said the number of youth at Woodside has been on the decline for about the last five years, with fewer than five for the last three months. 

Schatz pointed to several factors, including fewer filings regarding juvenile delinquency in state family courts over the years, as helping to reduce the number of youth at the facility. 

“And we have worked over the last few years to enhance the array of community-based programs to meet the needs of youth in communities as much as possible,” he added. 

As for the future of Woodside, Schatz said officials do not have a recommendation at this time.

“We’re definitely carefully looking at that,” he said. 

He said the facility has a staff of about 50 people.

“They need to stand ready to admit a youth,” Schatz said, adding, “We have actually implemented some policy changes which they are working on getting trained on and doing the kind of things to make sure they’re actually prepared to provide appropriate care and supervision.”

The latest news about Woodside comes after lawsuits were brought against the facility and the state Department for Children and Families.

Those lawsuits include ones brought by the Vermont Defender General’s Office in state court and another filed by Disability Rights Vermont in federal court.

The legal actions challenged Woodside’s practices regarding physical restraints as well as seclusion and isolation of youth at the facility. 

In the Disability Rights Vermont case, federal Judge Geoffrey Crawford issued a scathing preliminary junction order against DCF in August.

Crawford, in his ruling, wrote of a video he reviewed as part of the case showing the restraint of a teenage girl at the facility, in which she is naked and streaked with feces. The judge called it “horrific,” and “entirely inappropriate.”

The judge wrote in his order that the incident captured in that video “demonstrates in the space of a few minutes Woodside’s limited ability to care for a child who is experiencing symptoms of serious mental illness.”

At a hearing in that case last month, attorneys for DCF outlined changes and new training undertaken at Woodside.

In addition to new policies and practices, a section of Woodside which had been where youth in “isolation” were kept has been closed down with plans to turn it into a “therapeutic” space for counseling and family visiting.

A separate lawsuit was brought in state court in April by the Defender General’s Office in Washington County. 

Judge Mary Miles Teachout dismissed that lawsuit as “moot” after the teen alleging the dangerous use of restraints at the Woodside facility had been released.

The future of Woodside remains an open question.

“Our big push was to protect the constitutional rights of minors who were there,” Ed Paquin, executive director of Disability Rights Vermont, said Thursday.

“I guess the question in my mind is the question that I think a lot of people would have, what is their future plan?” 

Lawmakers last session discussed, but took no action, on a proposal that would have replaced the facility at a cost of $23.3 million.

Rep. Alice Emmons, D-Springfield and chair of the House Committee on Corrections and Institutions, said Thursday that the state needs to figure out its policy before the Legislature invests money into construction.

“The policy would be in terms of what do we do with juveniles that are delinquent?” she said, adding that is a conversation that needs to take place with the administration and other policymaking committees.

“Are there more placements that are able to occur out in the community, and are those placements more effective?” she asked.

Once that policy is set, Emmons said, the next step is to determine whether the current Woodside facility meets that need. 

“The question is to use the building for juveniles or not,” she said. “And then if you don’t use it for juveniles, what are you going to use it for?”

Sears, head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he would look to the administration to come forward with recommendations on Woodside’s future.

The senator said the general fund budget for Woodside totals about $5.5 million, and he expects the next legislative session, which starts in January, will include discussion on what is next for the facility. 

“I still think you have a certain number of kids who are going to need to be dealt with, whether that number is three, four, or 10,” Sears said. ”There’s still a need for detention for difficult to place kids.”

He added, “We do need to have that alternative available. Should we be spending $5.5 million on three or four kids? The answer is, no.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: State’s juvenile detention facility empty of youth for the first time in its history.