Avoids death penalty; gets 3 life sentences

BURLINGTON — A former Stowe resident, who gunned down two of his competing drug dealers, pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to a series of crimes that will net him a pair of consecutive life sentences.

Theodore “Theo” Bland, 30, admitted in court that he fatally shot the two out-of-state drug dealers at a trailer at 497 Eden Road in Lowell on Oct. 12, 2023.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Turner said Bland stole fentanyl and crack cocaine from the two dealers when he killed them.  He proceeded to share them with others in his drug trafficking conspiracy so they could distribute the dangerous drugs.  Bland also distributed portions of the stolen drugs to various people to ensure their cooperation and assistance in concealing the murders, Turner said.

The bodies of Jahim “Debo” Solomon, 21, of Pittsfield, Mass. and Eric “E” White, 21, ​of Chicopee, Mass. were found about two weeks later in the town of Eden in nearby Lamoille County about a mile apart.

Several rows of family members and friends attended the 45-minute hearing, but left the first-floor courtroom without speaking.

Under the 13-page signed plea agreement, Bland admitted to causing the deaths of both Solomon and White. Both criminal charges carry life sentences.

He also has admitted to carrying a gun during a drug trafficking crime, which calls for a consecutive life sentence, the plea agreement notes.

Bland also has agreed to plead guilty to four other felony gun and drug charges, court records show.  They include two counts of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and crack cocaine and one count of conspiracy to distribute the two dangerous drugs, records show.

He also has agreed to admit possessing a gun while dealing drugs.

After the murders, Bland took possession of two firearms that had been possessed by the out-of-state dealers, and traded one of the firearms to a drug supplier in exchange for additional quantities of crack cocaine and fentanyl that Bland intended to distribute, according to Turner.

Sessions set the sentencing for at 10 a.m. Sept. 14.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont, which had the green light from the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. to seek the death penalty in the double homicide case, agreed to take capital punishment off the table.

Sessions asked Turner if the Justice Department in Washington also was in agreement with the move.  Turner, who was assisted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana Hill, said the department concurred.

Vermont News First initially reported in December 2023 that Bland was the main person of interest in the double homicide.  The story, which appeared in multiple newspapers in Vermont and Massachusetts, was based on Vermont News First’s own investigation, interviews and court records.

The government eventually charged Bland and used that Vermont News First news story as a court exhibit in seeking his detention pending trial. 

Bland comes from a well-known Stowe family, which includes his father, Richard Bland, a lawyer and a former member of the town school board.

The double homicide is part of a complex interstate drug trafficking ring.  At least eight people have been charged in U.S. District Court as part of the case investigated by the Vermont Drug Task Force, State and Morristown Police, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  Other less involved people have been charged in state court.

Bland said, in response to questions from the judge, said he had received an associate degree in college and that he received drug treatment 5 or 6 years ago.  He said he remains on suboxone.

Bland was flanked by two of his three lawyers at the defense table, Bruce D. Koffsky, and David Sleigh of St. Johnsbury.

When asked by Sessions how he liked their legal work, Bland said “very satisfied.”

Under the plea deal, Bland is blocked from trying to trying to withdraw his pleas or to contest his case.

Courts records show that between Sept. 7, 2023 and Oct. 15, 2023, Bland conspired with others to distribute crack cocaine and fentanyl to drug customers in and around Lamoille County.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to protect communities from the perpetrators of violent crime, repel the invasion of illegal immigration and achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs).

Vermont had received approval for two federal death penalty cases from then-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Justice Department in just 2½ months.

In the other case, Teresa C. Youngblut, 21, of Seattle, Wash. is charged with fatally shooting an on-duty U.S. Border Patrol Agent about 3:15 p.m. Jan. 20, 2025 also in the Northeast Kingdom.  Youngblut is a member of a radical cult group, officials said. 

They maintain Youngblut, without notice or provocation, opened fire, killing Border Patrol Agent David “Chris” Maland of Newport.  The veteran agent, who never got a shot off, was struck in the neck with one of two shots.  He had ordered a 2015 Toyota Prius that was registered in North Carolina to pull over for an immigration stop about nine miles south of the Canadian border on Interstate 91 in Coventry.

The Youngblut case is still pending.