Thursday, September 16, 2021
Former orphanage residents expressed mixed emotions during a press conference at a South Burlington hotel on Thursday, recalling how a two-year restorative process has helped many of them begin to work through their deep-seated traumas.
But they said their attempts to move on have been undermined by the diocese's refusal to engage with them on certain issues, including the question of compensation. Some speakers said they have spent thousands and thousands of dollars on therapy over the years. Others referenced the untold amount of money funneled into the orphanage from both the state and from their own parents.
“They took money out of my father's pocket and abused us for it,” said Debi Gevry-Ellsworth, who was placed at the orphanage at the age of 2 along with her brother and sister and spent 10 years there. Her brother later killed himself.
Instead of attempting to repair the harm, said Michael Ryan, a former resident, Catholic leaders want to “sweep it all under the rug, just like they have all been for decades.”
“They need to provide restitution for their sins of the past,” he said.
Tags: St. Joseph's Orphanage , survivors , Bishop Christopher Coyne , Web Only , Image
Thursday, September 9, 2021
In a letter shared with media outlets Thursday, ACLU Vermont general counsel Jay Diaz said that Mayor Miro Weinberger and acting police chief Jon Murad have wrongly blamed recent gunfire incidents on the city council’s decision last year to cut the police department’s staffing. These "scare tactics," Diaz wrote, have misled the public into thinking that Burlington has become a more dangerous place.
“This campaign of misinformation is evidently designed to instill fear, direct more funding to BPD, and undermine the progress the city has made up to this point,” Diaz wrote in the six-page letter, which he addressed to Weinberger. “It is not, however, supported by the facts — including BPD’s own data.”
Tags: Miro Weinberger , John Murad , Jay Diaz , Vermont ACLU , crime , violent crime , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, September 7, 2021
A different trooper “raised concerns with supervisors” about two colleagues, Shawn Sommers and Raymond Witkowski, on August 9, the public safety department said in a statement. Sommers and Witkowski resigned the next day. A third trooper, David Pfindel, resigned on September 3 “following additional investigation by the Department of Public Safety,” the statement says.
All three “are suspected of having varying roles in the creation of fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination cards, which may be a violation of federal law,” according to the statement.
Tags: Vermont State Police , vaccine , COVID-19 , vaccination cards , Web Only , Image
Friday, August 27, 2021
Local law enforcement reportedly once gave Michael A. Gonzalez the nickname following an unfortunate 2018 encounter in which he was arrested after confusing a uniformed cop for a pizza delivery driver.
But over the course of the following years, the Colchester man pulled off a series of heists of Tesla electric cars worth a combined $607,000, according to a federal indictment unsealed Friday.
One of the vehicles involved ended up a fireball on the frozen surface of Lake Champlain in winter 2019 in a mysterious incident.
Tags: Michael Gonzalez , Tesla , Theft , Lake Champlain , Web Only , Image
Edmunds Elementary and Middle School on Main Street in Burlington were closed Friday after a staff member found a bullet hole in a window on campus.
The Burlington School District is working with the city police department to investigate the incident, Superintendent Tom Flanagan wrote in an email to the school community on Friday morning.
A staff member discovered the damaged window before school opened, and the district believes the incident happened in the overnight hours when no one was in the building, district spokesperson Russ Elek said. A Seven Days reporter photographed what appeared to be the bullet hole, in a third floor window of the middle school building on the side facing South Union Street.
In a press release later Friday, Burlington police described the bullet as a "small-caliber round" that was discovered inside the classroom.
Instead, the department believes the shot was likely fired from somewhere near the intersection of South Winooski Avenue and Main Street, about 700 feet from the school.
Officers later learned that multiple witnesses heard several gunshots early Friday but did not call police.
"I want to assure you that safety is our top priority and we are all working closely to ensure all students are safe," Flanagan wrote. He said that students in need of support can contact their building principals to be connected to school and community resources.
Courtney Lamdin contributed reporting.
Tags: Burlington School District , gunshot , Edmunds Middle School , Edmunds Elementary School , Web Only , Image
Friday, August 13, 2021
Former Jay Peak president Bill Stenger, whom prosecutors have described as the frontman for a massive EB-5 fraud scheme in the Northeast Kingdom, admitted in federal court Friday that he submitted false documents to regulators.
As part of a plea deal, federal prosecutors dropped numerous other fraud charges brought against Stenger in 2019 in exchange for his guilty plea to the single count. The 72-year-old faces up to five years in prison, though his attorney said Friday that he will seek a sentence that does not include any prison time.
He's the third leader of the phony AnC Bio Vermont project to take a plea deal with federal prosecutors. The alleged mastermind of the scheme, Ariel Quiros, faces up to eight years on wire fraud, concealment and money laundering charges, while a third partner, William Kelly, faces up to three years for wire fraud and concealment. A fourth partner, Alex Choi, remains at large.
Tags: Bill Stenger , EB-5 scandal , AnC Bio Vermont , Ariel Quiros , Web Only , Image
Monday, August 9, 2021
Dennis Duffy II, 38, pleaded not guilty in federal court Monday following an indictment that accuses him of grossly misrepresenting his business, Night Owl Cleaning, in an application for a Paycheck Protection Program loan.
Duffy then used the $416,093 proceeds last summer to purchase a home in Milton, according to the indictment.
Tags: Dennis Duffy II , PPP loan fraud , Payroll Protection Program , Night Owl Cleaning , Vermont Aerial , U.S. District Court , U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Vermont , Web Only , Image
Friday, August 6, 2021
The alleged assault took place February 27 at Bergstein's Burlington home —a few weeks after the City of Winooski had already threatened to evict Bergstein's nonprofit from city property over similar allegations.
The woman came forward to Burlington police in April, shortly after VTDigger.org published an investigation detailing numerous other women's accounts of predatory behavior by Bergstein.
Tags: Ben Bergstein , Sexual Assault , North End Studios , Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations , Web Only , Image
Monday, August 2, 2021
The ultimate decision will lie with the city council, which is next scheduled to meet on August 9. It's unclear if the body will take up the issue then.
The vote marks the second time in several months that commissioners have called on the council to raise the staffing cap. And it comes as local business leaders have renewed their calls for an increased downtown police presence in light of recent violent incidents.
"We're losing a downtown for everyone because it does not feel safe and secure for people who want to come here," Kelly Devine, executive director of the Burlington Business Association, said prior to Monday's vote.
Tags: Burlington Police Department , BPD , Staffing , Cap , Officers , Web Only , Image
Thursday, July 22, 2021
The department "has been working with community members this past year in an effort to better serve everyone in our community, especially those most impacted by racism and inequity," Hoague wrote. "We have engaged our public in conversation and efforts like never before and we realize that incidents such as this indicate we have more work to do."
Williams was the only one charged of at least four people involved in the July 13 fight, which police said took place at the home of a man who Williams had hired to repair a motorcycle. Police had previously said their investigation was not over and that additional charges could follow.
Tags: Essex Police Department , Ron Hoague , Brandon Williams , Racial Justice , Hate Crime , Assault , The Black Perspective , Web Only , Image