Monday, July 10, 2017
Jury selection began Monday in the second sexual assault trial of former state senator Norm McAllister, and attorneys were having trouble identifying jurors who are eligible to serve.
By day's end, not a single juror had been chosen from among the roughly 100 people summoned to Franklin Superior Court. Selection was to continue Tuesday, and the testimony was expected to commence on Wednesday.
Last week, prosecutors from the Franklin County State's Attorney's Office and Bob Katims, McAllister's attorney, submitted a list of prospective jurors who they believe should be struck, either because they had formed opinions about the case or had other conflicts. That was based on questionnaires the prospective jurors had completed.
But Judge Martin Maley agreed to strike only half of them. The remaining ones were being interviewed one by one by the judge and attorneys.
Tags: Norm McAllister , leglsiature , Bob Katims , John Lavoie , Martin Maley , Image , Web Only
Thursday, July 6, 2017
Jody Herring pleaded guilty Thursday in Washington Superior Court to first-degree murder for shooting DCF worker Lara Sobel, WCAX-TV reported.
She also pleaded guilty to second-degree murder charges in the deaths of each of her three relatives. A judge will formally sentence Herring at a later date.
Herring shot Sobel outside a DCF office in downtown Barre in broad daylight, and bystanders apprehended her at the scene. About 12 hours later, authorities discovered the bodies of Julie Falzarano, who was her aunt, and Regina Herring and Rhonda Herring, her cousins, inside a Berlin home.
Tags: Jody Herring , Lara Sobel , DCF , Barre , Image , Web Only
Alexander James Lowell-Henry died late Wednesday as he was receiving medical care at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, state police said.
The toddler was in the care of a foster family at the time of his apparent drowning, state police said.
Tags: Alexander James Lowell-Henry , Vermont State Police , DCF , Ken Schatz , toddler drowning , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, July 5, 2017
No one died, but two people remained in critical condition after they were flown to regional hospitals, Brattleboro police said.
There are similarities between the overdoses, including identifying markers on heroin bags, authorities said. Brattleboro, with a population of 12,000, has seen prior waves of suspected drug overdoses.
In the past, Brattleboro police have publicized the identity of a batch of drugs that caused overdoses, in hopes of protecting addicts.
But this time they are not. Rather than dissuade addicts from using the bad batch, the previous warnings have caused drug users to seek out the drugs — in search of a more potent high, police said.
Tags: Brattleboro , Opioid Crisis , opioid epidemic , Image , Web Only
Monday, July 3, 2017
Mark Logan, who owned Green Mountain Family Medicine, faces 35 counts of prescription fraud and six counts of Medicaid fraud, Vermont State Police said. Logan, 66, is scheduled to appear in Rutland Superior Court on July 10.
Logan was the target of an investigation launched in January 2016 involving state police, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Vermont Board of Medical Practice.
State police said the allegations date to 2010 or earlier. Logan allegedly manipulated employee medical records and patient profiles to order prescription drugs for his or a family member's use.
Tags: Department of Health , Mark Logan , opiates , Opioid Crisis , Rutland , Vermont State Police , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Authorities recently extradited Alexis Vlachos, 40, from Québec to Vermont, where earlier this month he pleaded not guilty to five firearms charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Tuesday. He is being held in prison pending trial and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.
Vlachos imported 100 handguns into Québec without a permit from the U.S. State Department, prosecutors said.
Tags: Alexis Vlachos , Haskell Free Library , U.S. Attorney's Office , Paul Volk , Image , Web Only
Friday, June 2, 2017
JPay, which also provides money transfers, tablets, and a probation and parole payment system, paid a $7,380 penalty to the state and $400 in refunds to 82 Vermonters, Donovan said.
The company advertised and ran a “JPay Day” contest, offering anyone who used their services on April 20 entry into a drawing for a $1,000 prize, Donovan said. Vermont law requires that any company running such a contest offer a way for people to enter without making a purchase or paying an entry fee. JPay failed to provide that option, Donovan said.
Tags: T.J. Donovan , JPay , Department of Corrections , Attorney General's Office , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Acting U.S. Attorney Eugenia Cowles announced Wednesday that her office had reached a $155 million settlement, the largest of its kind in state history, against an electronic health records company accused of widespread fraud.
The lawsuit alleged that eClinicalWorks, one of the country's largest vendors of electronic health record software, falsified its capabilities to pass tests required for government certification. The lawsuit also accused eClinicalWorks, based in Westborough, Mass., of failing to adequately test software before it was released, failing to quickly correct urgent problems and paying kickbacks to some customers in exchange for promoting its software.
"This resolution demonstrates the government's coordinated effort to protect programs like Medicare and Medicaid that millions of Americans rely on every day," Cowles said during a news conference touting the settlement.
Tags: Eugenia Cowles , U.S. Attorney , electronic health records , Brendan Delaney , Image , Web Only
Thursday, May 25, 2017
As reported by Seven Days this week, the program, which was launched in 2012, may run afoul of a 2004 law that forbids the DMV from implementing "processes for identifying applicants for licenses ... that involve the use of biometric identifiers."
Additionally, documents obtained by the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union suggest that the database of 2.7 million images has been widely shared with federal and local law enforcement — despite prior assurances from the DMV that it would not be.
"The ACLU raises good concerns," Donovan said in a brief interview Thursday. "The privacy concerns are, in addition to the legal question, the most pressing matter."
Tags: T.J. Donovan , Vermont DMV , facial recognition database , Tom McCormick , Jay Diaz , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
The sanctions range "from probation to official college discipline, which places a permanent record in the student's file," the school said in a statement.
Murray attempted to lecture in the McCullough Student Center about his 2012 book, Coming Apart. Murray is better known for his 1994 book, The Bell Curve, which sought to correlate social inequality to genetics. The Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled his work "racist pseudoscience."
Tags: Charles Murray , Middlebury College , Allison Stanger , Bill Burger , Middlebury Police , Image , Web Only