Thursday, December 12, 2019
The account, @WinkleWatchers, has since been deleted. Del Pozo created the profile to mock Charles Winkleman, a Burlington resident, political activist and known provocateur who regularly takes aim online at the chief, landlords and others in power.
Del Pozo lied when Seven Days asked him about the burner account in July, saying he had nothing to do with it. But days later, del Pozo confessed what he had done to Mayor Miro Weinberger. He took six weeks of medical leave to seek mental health treatment, the mayor said. The chief has been back on duty since mid-September.
Tags: Brandon del Pozo , Burlington Police Department , Miro Weinberger , Charles Winkleman , Twitter , WinkleWatchers , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
The head of Vermont's Agency of Human Services said Tuesday that he's hoping the federal government will conduct an independent investigation of the troubled Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility.
Secretary Mike Smith told members of a legislative oversight panel that he was on the hunt for an "appropriate third-party entity" to probe allegations of sexual misconduct, drug use and retaliation at the South Burlington women's prison — and, perhaps, the entire Department of Corrections. He later said to Seven Days that the ideal candidate would be the U.S. Department of Justice.
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Paul Heintz
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At a community forum Tuesday evening in Burlington, Smith's deputy secretary, Martha Maksym, elaborated on the idea. "We have made a firm commitment to have an external, unbiased investigation of this," she said. "Secretary Smith has been in conversations with [U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan] and she is exploring if this might be something her office can do."
Precisely what such a probe would entail — and whether the feds are amenable to leading it — remains to be seen. Nolan said in a written statement Tuesday night that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Vermont is "considering all options and the appropriate scope of our role." She added, "This includes consideration of potential avenues under federal civil rights laws."
Tags: Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility , Mike Smith , Martha Maksym , Christina Nolan , Mike Touchette , Theresa Stone , Web Only , Image
Friday, December 6, 2019
Following reports of wrongdoing at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, Human Services Secretary Mike Smith is planning to take direct operational control of the South Burlington women's prison.
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Paul Heintz
c/o Seven Days
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Burlington, VT 05401
Chittenden Regional is currently overseen by the Department of Corrections, which is part of the sprawling Agency of Human Services. Smith's plan is to temporarily remove the women's prison from the DOC chain of command and run it from his agency's central office.
"I'm just trying to get the mechanism in place to do it," he said.
Smith said that the prison's superintendent, Theresa Stone, remains on the job, as does Corrections Commissioner Mike Touchette.
Tags: Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility , Mike Smith , Mike Touchette , Theresa Stone , Web Only , Image
Thursday, December 5, 2019
A document obtained Thursday by Seven Days shows that Vermont Corrections Commissioner Mike Touchette was informed about allegations of drug use and retaliation at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility more than two years ago.
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Paul Heintz
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The two-page report, titled "Retaliation at CRCF," was addressed to Touchette, who was then serving as deputy commissioner at the Department of Corrections. It was provided to Seven Days by Brittany Sweet, a former officer at Chittenden Regional who sued the state that year for sexual harassment and retaliation. Flibotte declined to comment.
Flibotte's report appears to corroborate some of the allegations made in an investigation of Chittenden Regional published Wednesday by Seven Days. That story describes complaints of sexual misconduct, drug use and retaliation at the South Burlington facility. More than a dozen officers and inmates told the newspaper that, for years, Zorzi appeared to be intoxicated during his shifts at the prison. He was suspended in October and is under investigation by the Vermont State Police.
During a press conference Thursday in Montpelier, a Seven Days reporter read a portion of Flibotte’s incident report to Gov. Phil Scott. He called it “concerning” and said that he had not heard such complaints until the investigation was published Wednesday.
“We’re taking this very seriously and I guarantee we’ll get to the bottom of it, because it’s unacceptable,” the governor said.
Tags: Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility , Vermont Department of Corrections , Mike Touchette , Steffen Flibotte , Brittany Sweet , Daniel Zorzi , Web Only , Image
Gov. Phil Scott has appointed William “Bill” Cohen of Rutland to the Vermont Supreme Court.
A superior court justice in Rutland for the last 20 years, Cohen fills a vacancy created by the September 1 retirement of Justice Marilyn Skoglund, who departed after 22 years on the state’s highest court.
“Bill understands the needs of Vermonters as well as the challenges facing the judiciary and the justice system,” Scott said in a statement released Thursday morning. “Among a very strong candidate pool, Bill distinguished himself as someone with the right experience, temperament and character to serve the judiciary with excellence as an associate justice.”
In an interview, Cohen said he was “extremely happy” to be appointed but would also miss the close relationships he has built in Bennington, where he is the presiding judge.
He described himself as a moderate and his judicial philosophy as “to attempt as best I can to not judge out of fear or favor.”
Tags: Vermont Supreme Court , William "Bill" Cohen , Gov. Phil Scott , Max Misch , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Gov. Phil Scott on Wednesday ordered Human Services Secretary Mike Smith to “thoroughly investigate” allegations reported by Seven Days of officer misconduct at Vermont’s sole prison for women.
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Paul Heintz
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Burlington, VT 05401
Hours earlier, Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George said she planned to review the sentences of 20 female inmates her office has sent to the South Burlington prison and who remain incarcerated there. If appropriate, George said, she may seek their release from the facility.
The Seven Days investigation found credible allegations of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen of the prison’s officers since it became home to female inmates in August 2011. Officers and inmates alike alleged that prison officials ignored complaints and retaliated against those who lodged them.
Tags: Phil Scott , Mike Smith , Sarah George , Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility , Vermont Department of Corrections , Web Only , Image
A relative of 28-year-old Greg West called police to report that he was intoxicated and engaging in threatening behavior inside of his Lower Notch Road home, according to police. Troopers arrived at the scene to find West standing in a steep driveway holding a shotgun, which he refused to put down despite officers' attempts to "deescalate the situation," Maj. Dan Trudeau said at a press conference Wednesday morning.
"This went back and forth for several minutes, and ultimately, there was some gunfire by the troopers," Trudeau said. A Bristol police officer who was also at the scene appears to not have fired her weapon, Trudeau said.
Tags: Vermont State Police , officer-involved shooting , Greg West , Bristol , Major Dan Trudeau , Web Only , Image
Thursday, November 14, 2019
The Vermont Attorney General's Office will charge Jason Lawton, the former St. Albans police officer who punched a handcuffed woman in the face, with simple assault, Vermont State Police announced.
Lawton was arrested and processed Thursday morning after a "lengthy investigation," state police said in a press release. The St. Albans Police Department cooperated in the probe, state police said.
Lawton will be arraigned November 18 in Franklin County Superior Court for the misdemeanor charge. He faces up to a year in jail and $1,000 in fines.
Tags: Jason Lawton , St. Albans police , Gary Taylor , Amy Connelly , punch , simple assault , Web Only , Image , Video
Thursday, October 10, 2019
Vermont State Police have not yet confirmed that Christopher G. Louras, 33, killed Nicholas Louras, 34, also of Rutland. But they believe the discovery of Nicholas' body in Salisbury is linked to a 7 a.m. Tuesday police shootout that left Christopher dead in Rutland, 23 miles to the south.
"Among the pending components of the investigation is determining a possible motive for Christopher Louras’ actions," state police said in a press release Thursday morning.
Tags: Christopher Louras , Chris Louras , Nicholas Louras , Rutland , Rutland shooting , murder , Salisbury , police shooting , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, October 8, 2019
Vermont State Police believe those two incidents are connected to the apparent murder of a man whose body was discovered Tuesday afternoon beside a road in Salisbury, a town about 30 minutes north of Rutland. Police did not immediately say how the former mayor’s son, Christopher G. Louras, was involved.
But Vermont State Police Major Dan Trudeau said during an afternoon press conference that the younger Louras is suspected of pumping two bullets through the front door of the Rutland City police headquarters during a 5:30 a.m. drive-by shooting.
Tags: Rutland , Chris Louras , police shooting , drive-by shooting , AR-15 , Vermont State Police , Web Only , Image