Tuesday, January 25, 2022
Weinberger said in a statement that his family returned home around 5 p.m. to find their home had been broken into. They immediately called the police.
"I am grateful to the officers who responded quickly and professionally, and who work every day to keep Burlingtonians safe," the mayor's statement said. "I am also heartened by the messages from many neighbors who have already shared concern for our family.”
Tags: Burlington , Mayor Miro Weinberger , break-in , vandalism , crime , police , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, January 5, 2022
A federal grand jury had indicted Lawrence Jackson, 50, on several drug charges late last month. He’s also accused of being a felon in possession of a firearm, specifically a revolver dubbed by its manufacturer as The Judge and described in a court document as “a particularly effective and dangerous weapon” that fires both .45-caliber bullets and .410-gauge shotgun shells.
The document describes Jackson as an “extremely violent person causing significant recent harm in the Rutland community.” Jackson used the weapon at least three times to pistol-whip people and also to threaten a woman he thought had stolen drugs from him, the document states. Witnesses also told the feds that Jackson had raped and sexually assaulted multiple women, and held down one woman and burned her skin with a butane torch.
Tags: Rutland , sex trafficking , drugs , addiction , Lawrence Jackson , Web Only , Image
Friday, December 10, 2021
Toof, who is listed as a middle school literacy teacher on the school's website, is facing two charges — repeated aggravated sexual assault of a child, and lewd and lascivious conduct with a child. After being arraigned on Thursday, he was being held without bail at Northwestern Correctional Center.
Another student saw Toof touch the girl's bottom and told his mother, a teacher at the school, who reported the incident to a guidance counselor. Other students and staff members also reported concerns, and the guidance counselor contacted the Department for Children & Families in June 2016.
On November 18, 2016 — just five months later — a social studies and language arts teacher at the school filed another report with DCF. She reported hearing the school administration expressing concern about Toof's behavior toward the student, who was no longer in his class.
Staff had been advised "to keep an eye" on the girl and not allow her to visit Toof's classroom because there had been "a previous incident of concern about his behavior with this child," court documents say. Earlier that month, Toof had been observed holding hands and hugging the student, the teacher reported. Again, DCF declined to investigate further.
DCF did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from Seven Days.
Tags: Georgia Elementary School , Franklin County , sexual assault , Web Only , Image
Friday, December 3, 2021
“This is a terrifying thought,” Principal Shannon Warden wrote in a letter emailed to families and posted on the high school’s Facebook page Thursday night. Many students and parents had notified administrators that they were “scared to come to school tomorrow,” Warden wrote, “and I can’t blame them!”
On Tuesday, a 15-year-old high school student in Michigan killed four classmates and injured seven others. His parents were charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter because of their actions in the lead-up to the shooting.
Warden said the threats at Mt. Abe were made after the school decided Thursday to ban students from wearing flags or banners in school. This week, the principal explained, students had draped flags over themselves like capes “in support of a person, cause or movement.”
A person familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified told Seven Days that some of the flags expressed support for former president Donald Trump. Pro-law enforcement Thin Blue Line and “Don’t Tread on Me” flags were also worn. As a counterprotest, other students brought LGBTQ, Transgender Pride and Black Lives Matter flags to school.
Tags: Mount Abraham Union Middle/High School. schools , flags , Shannon Warden , school violence , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
The Chittenden County State's Attorney's Office is deciding whether to charge the student. The Winooski Police Department sent the prosecutors' office a report on October 11 that found probable cause that the 19-year-old player committed what would be a misdemeanor offense.
The Franklin Northeast Supervisory Union, which includes Enosburg Falls High School, said on Monday that its two-and-half-week investigation into the matter found no evidence to substantiate the allegations of racial abuse. But superintendent Lynn Cota said she considers the investigation incomplete because Winooski student athletes declined to answer questions, and the Winooski School District did not share its investigatory notes.
Tags: Winooski School District , Franklin Northeast Supervisory Union , Winooski Police Department , racial slurs , Enosburg , Winooski , Web Only , Image , Video
New details of 22-year-old Emily Ferlazzo’s death were unveiled in court documents on Wednesday after her husband, Joseph Ferlazzo, 41, was arraigned in Burlington. Wearing a painter’s coverall and blue latex gloves, Joseph appeared by video in Judge Gregory Rainville’s courtroom, where he pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge.
Citing the “great weight of evidence,” Rainville ordered Joseph held without bail pending another hearing in the coming weeks. He has no prior criminal record, prosecutors said.
Tags: Emily Ferlazzo , Joseph Ferlazzo , murder , Chittenden County , Vermont , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, October 19, 2021
Joseph Ferlazzo, 41, was being questioned by detectives at the state police barracks in St. Albans on Tuesday night. He told the authorities that he’d killed his wife, 22-year-old Emily Ferlazzo, early Saturday in Bolton.
Cops found her body in a small bus the couple had converted into a camper. An autopsy was scheduled for Wednesday in Burlington. Joseph, meanwhile, will be arraigned on a first-degree murder charge at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, also in Burlington.
Tags: Emily Ferlazzo , Joseph Ferlazzo , Web Only , Image
Thursday, October 14, 2021
Sean Fiore, 37, pleaded guilty on Thursday to four federal counts that include murder for hire, conspiracy to kidnap and murder a person overseas, as well as producing and possessing child pornography. He will be sentenced in March and faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
The woman who allegedly carried out Fiore's requests — Moraima Escarlet Vasquez Flores, of Venezuela — faces similar charges. She was arrested in Colombia last fall, and U.S. authorities are now seeking her extradition.
Tags: Sean Fiore , Kidnap , Murder , Hire , Video , Moraima Escarlet Vasquez Flores , Web Only , Image
Friday, October 8, 2021
“I have watched, read, ruminated, and prayed over this release. It has been a years' long process,” Kami Calevro wrote in the statement, released to the media through an attorney. “Initially I wanted to hide from it. But this is a part of my life and running from it at the conclusion is not how I would have it end.
"In coming full circle with a statement as myself, as Kami Calevro, I wish to send these words: Let us assure our girls and women that there is no shame in rape, let them know that there is a full life after violent crime, and let us remind everyone that no matter the outcome we all must come together for the greater good of society."
Her assailant, Craig Yandow, is to be released on Wednesday, October 13, after completing his sentence. The Department of Corrections has labeled him a moderate-high risk to commit another sexual offense, in part because he would not participate in sex offender treatment while behind bars. Once released, Yandow will live in Essex. The town police department, along with the Essex Community Justice Center, on Friday evening hosted a virtual meeting to answer questions about his release. About 50 people attended.
Tags: Kami Calevro , Craig Yandow , Burlington , rape , Valentine's Day , Web Only , Image
Monday, October 4, 2021
After recovering the image, Kaylee did — but the perpetrator still hasn't been caught. Now two weeks after the traumatic incident, Kaylee and her mother, Heather Mckenzie, say the school mishandled the investigation and didn't provide the high school senior the support she needed in the aftermath.
Tags: BFA St. Albans , Franklin County , Brett Blanchard , racism , Web Only , Image