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Sometimes young MA drug criminals are the shooters, sometimes they’re the victims
By Guy Page
A Springfield, Massachusetts teen is scheduled to appear in court today Wednesday, Oct. 23, to answer a charge of being an accessory to an October 14 fatal shooting in the Kneeland Flats Trailer Park in Waterbury. On Saturday a 20-year-old man from Springfield, MA was charged with second-degree murder in the same shooting.
Samuel Niyonsenga, 18, is due for arraignment at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Criminal Division of Vermont Superior Court in Barre on a charge of accessory to second-degree murder. He is accused of participating in the incident at the Kneeland Flats Trailer Park during which Shawn Spiker, 34, of Croydon, New Hampshire, was fatally shot, and Michael S. Perry, 57, of Waterbury was wounded.
Niyonsenga was ordered held without bail pending arraignment. He is currently incarcerated at the Northeast Correctional Complex in St. Johnsbury.
Saturday October 19 state police arrested Fabrice Rumama, 20, of Springfield in connection with the shooting and killing of Shawn Spiker, 34, of Croyden NH. During the incident Michael Perry, 57 of Waterbury was shot and wounded inside a trailer at the trailer park.
Rumama is charged with second-degree murder. A judge ordered Rumama jailed without bail pending arraignment, which is expected to occur Monday, Oct. 21, at 1 p.m., in the Criminal Division of Vermont Superior Court in Barre.
Based on a police affidavit referenced in the Times-Argus, the two young men are believed to have been drug money collector/enforcers. The report also said that Niyonsenga has been charged in Vermont courts for fentanyl distribution.
The youths’ alleged involvement in the shootings is the latest instance of young men from out-of-state being used as triggermen in Vermont drug-trafficking related disputes. The Vermont criminal justice system is vulnerable to this exploitation because the law gives latitude for young violent criminals to be tried as juveniles, and because Vermont has no established ‘juvenile jail’ AKA Secure Youth Treatment Facility since the closure of the Woodside facility in Essex Junction several years ago.
For example, in February 2024 Mohamed Said, 15, of Springfield MA was charged as an adult for felony second-degree murder for the targeted shooting and killing Christina Chatlos in St. Johnsbury. Chatlos had two drug charges on her record. Another youth was involved in the shooting, police said.
Sometimes young out-of-state drug criminals are victims of violence inflicted by instate drug dealers. Vermonters Ted Bland and Dilan Jiron – both members of prominent Vermont legal families – are accused in the shooting deaths of two Massachusetts young men in Vermont to sell drugs. Elijah Oliver, 22, of Haverhill MA was killed in a drug-deal scuffle in Swanton in 2022. A Colchester resident was convicted.
A thorough review of Vermont crime news would find young, out-of-state men on both sides of the fatal gun shot.
What is the State of Vermont doing about it?
The Legislature has attempted to respond to the use of teens by violent drug organizations. S.3, passed in 2023, allows authorities to transfer from family court to adult criminal court the violent, drug-related crimes of youths age 16-19.
This year, the State of Vermont cracked down on youth drug violence. The Executive Branch (Scott administration) and the Legislature worked together to give the Judiciary quite a few new tools to get tough on drug dealers.
New laws – notably S.58 and S.195 – expand pre-sentencing options and toughen sentencing for drug trafficking, use of guns in commission of felonies, and crimes committed by youth.
The Legislature expanded the use of bail. It lifted the $200 cap. Also, judges may now set bail for failure to appear in court. It’s not just about flight risk anymore.
Judges may impose other, more stringent, and hopefully more persuasive conditions of release for failure to appear.
And the Legislature created the Home Detention Program, which is “designed to provide an alternative to incarceration and reduce the number of detainees at Vermont correctional facilities by accommodating defendants who would otherwise be incarcerated or pose a significant risk to public safety.”
The State also restored the post-sentence Dept. of Corrections work crew – another more restrictive, but not quite prison, program.
Homicides up in 2022, 2023
The Green Mountain State lawmakers are aware that crimes are up including homicides. According to Vermont State Police, the state has surpassed 20 homicides in each of the past two years, with 27 in 2023 and 24 in 2022.
Out-of-state drug dealers – young or otherwise – are at least part of the issue. In October 2023 the Vermont Daily Chronicle reported that a federal grand jury returned a 14-count indictment against Rockylane Lewis, 33, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Aisha Davy, 36, of Springfield, Massachusetts; and Holly Howard, 49, of Brattleboro.
Governor Phil Scott in his recent State of the State Address noted that crime is rising.
“And in the last 10 years, violent crime reported to police increased 56%, aggravated assault by 65%, sexual assault by 76%, and homicide by 166%. We cannot deny these trends,” he said.
Burlington’s Mayor Weinberger in February put out a commentary indicating that drugs are fueling the crime waves.
“We have seen a more than 300% increase in overdose deaths over the last decade, losing 264 Vermonters in 2022, and the drug crisis is driving dramatic increases in serious crimes like shootings, homicides, and vehicle theft statewide,” he wrote.
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Categories: Drugs and Crime
Must be because they are getting a relocation bonus slotted for enticing young professionals. Working like a charm ridding Massachusetts of some challenging residents. Perhaps we could legalize everything reducing the motivation.
For me , not sure I would travel all the way up to choose Vermont to die in.
He might still be “treated” in juvenile court, because his poor little brain isn’t developed enough to know that what he was doing was wrong.
Why not render them Vermont justice? A one way ticket to never never land where they’d never be found. Think of all the money that’s spent on the legal system giving them “rights”. But Lawyers need money, so the system is corrupt and lengthy. Then they low-life is set free. Send them to a Mexican prison, Mexico could use money and it would save this state . The Mexican gulag with no air conditioning and a shovel 18 hour days. It’s not harsh relative to what they do to others.
Tell me it’s not so, another POS up from the cities selling their wears………………
We must up the ante when these POS cross state lines to distribute their goods. You’ll only need to provide stiff sentences to a few; the word will spread, and it will stop!!
WE NEED TO ROUND UP ALL THE ILLEGAL ALIENS HERE IN VERMONT AND RETURN THEM TO THEIR COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN AND WE NEED TO ROUND ALL THE CRIMINALS WHO ARE HERE FROM OTHER STATES IN THE UNTIED STATES AND ARE NO BENEFIT TO VERMONT AND RETURN THEM TO THEIR STATES OF ORIGIN…
Or, Brian, we could save some money and sent them all to Martha’s Vineyard.
Obama would welcome them there, wouldn’t he?
The Right Mark
I’m sorry but 18 is still an adult they can vote these crappy laws in they are an adult, doing adult thins STOP calling them teens!!!!!!!!
Didn’t Scamala and Joe Briben say crime was down…..
This wasn’t crime in their eyes…it was a “cry for help” by someone with the disease of opioid use disorder managing their affliction the best way they knew…
Nobody is addressing the pain and hopelessness that drive regular people to use the crap they sell. No demand no rif-raf
First, we don’t want the new youth detention center in Vergennes and second, prosecutors need to to put these people away and cut it out with the “understanding.”
The ratio of black out-of-state criminals who come here and commit crimes is manipulated by social justice frauds like Stephanie Seguino at UVM to claim Vermont police are racist for arresting them. The fraud is statistical — she uses a numerator of BIPOC arrests that includes out-of-state-offenders over a denominator of in-state BIPOCs. Then she argues that that arrest rate is disproportionate to the state’s BIPOC population. Apples and oranges, and ignores actual guilt. I guess the police don’t arrest white murderers? But Seguino claims all our police are racist. Using her slanderous metric, by arresting these BIPOC out-of-staters, the police are just statistically proving they are racists again — they must let these poor victim BIPOC gang members free if they wish to redeem themselves from Stephanie’s cop-hating, rapist-assisting, ideological bullcrap. Our police are not racist — UVM’s Stephanie Seguino is, and she is helping to kill people both by gang traffic and fentanyl deaths. I wonder if she got a raise this year, on our dime, for perverting basic rules of statistics? Does she think her title makes us dumb? Does she want to sue me so I can prove the truth of these facts in court? Oh please!!
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/01/how_racist_is_vemont_really.html
https://www.uvm.edu/cas/economics/profile/stephanie-seguino
Seguino is a fraud. Years ago a number of Chiefs of Police met with her and pointed out the errors of her findings, but she never publicly recanted her statements. Consequently it helped start the defund the disasterous defund the police movement in Vermont, hence Burlington Police Department, and others, are still reeling from inadequate manning and extremely low recruiting numbers. I’m not sure, but I think she is still a member, maybe the chairman, of the police commission in Burlington. Until Burlington, Chittenden County, and the remainder of our state wake up and vote out those who are responsible for these liberal laws and policies, Vermont will continue to suffer.
Just another tourist from Springfield Mass. Now, will we have to support this fine eighteen year old………..in a Vermont prison for many years??????
I will gladly encourage having my tax dollars utilized for incarcerating feral humans in the interest the public safety…
Fabrice Rumama…Samuel Niyonsenga? Oh yes, bleeding heart Demoncrats…welcome these New Immigration wave Vermonters to our fair state with your open border welfare policies…should we now wonder why Vermonters are dying off with every entrant? If we continue to vote for Woker Joker Dems, our demographics will flip over to New Scum Druggies ruling the state…Vermont Legislators, Sanders/Welch/Balint, No Balz Walz and Bumbling Word Salad Harris are festering the cancer we are experiencing in the state…Solution: Save Our State: Vote Republican…Save our Nation: Vote Republican. Dare to be informed and cast a responsible vote or expect more of this reprehensible infestation.
You think it’s bad now and getting worse? Well, you’d be right about that.
But why does it seem that no one in the legislature or town governments can think just a couple steps ahead? If you’re simply reacting to what’s happening now, you’re four years behind the curve.
Where we ought to be at the moment is already having a plan for what’s coming, which can be one of two things at this point. A) What are we going to do about Venezuelan (or other) gangs taking over places like Burlington, St J, Rutland, Springfield, Barre, and Bennington, just to name a few? Or B) How are we going to get rid of all the “newcomers” and gangs should our upcoming election go as it should? Or both.
You hear anyone in state or town government talking about this? All I hear is crickets. Ask yourself….. is this what you really want? Wouldn’t we be better off with adults in charge who can see over the horizon and be proactive? It’s not a big ask. Expect more from our elected officials! What a concept!
But no, we’ll simply watch as the lefties go berserk over the end of (un-Constitutional) “sanctuary cities” and the loss of “sanctuary state” status. And who knows what that will look like and how it will turn out.
I’m sorry, my friends, but it’s time for the adults in the room to stand up and get this state going in the right (old school) direction. You don’t like that? Then get out. And don’t let the door hit you in the keister on your way out.
Diversity in action.