By Michael Donoghue, Vermont News First

A Burlington acupuncturist and herbalist, who is facing multiple child pornography charges, will remain behinds bars until at least Friday when a federal judge will be asked to consider releasing him pending a criminal trial in U.S. District Court.

Stephen A. Lane, 56, who operates Single Needle Acupuncture on Battery Street, pleaded not guilty in federal court to three felony child pornography charges Friday afternoon.

After hearing legal arguments by the prosecution and defense, Federal Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle agreed to release Lane on strict conditions, including he does not commit any new crimes and that he wears a location monitoring device. Doyle also ordered home detention, except when Lane is at work or attending court, legal, medical appointments, including mental health counseling.

As Doyle prepared to leave the bench, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ophardt asked for time to appeal the decision to Chief Federal Judge Christina Reiss. Doyle put a stay on the release order until Friday and ordered the U.S. Marshals Service to keep Lane in custody pending the appeal. He is jailed at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans Town.

Ophardt, who is chief of the criminal division, had argued that Lane could not be trusted to follow court release conditions. He noted Lane had been facing state charges until the U.S. Attorney’s Office adopted the case recently and that he failed to follow his state release conditions. Ophardt said Lane moved out of his Winooski apartment and relocated to Burlington and failed to notify the clerk’s office in Vermont Superior Court as required by his conditions.

Lane, formerly of St. Albans, had leased his apartment at 61 St. Peter Street in Winooski, which police raided when he was arrested in October 2024. Court records show Lane moved out about Aug. 31 and apparently moved to North Union Street in Burlington.

Defense lawyer Jessica Burke told Doyle she was to blame for the lack of notification to the court. Burke said Lane notified her he had moved, but she failed to alert the clerk’s office about the change of address as required by his bail conditions.

Burke argued that there was no reason Lane could not continue on pre-trial release similar to the terms imposed when he was arraigned in Vermont Superior Court. Doyle appeared torn by the decision, but eventually said he believed federal law did provide for Lane’s release. Lane has no known criminal history, no failures to appear in court, a job and has a son living in Bristol.

A federal grand jury indicted Lane on Nov. 13 on charges of attempting to entice a person under age 18 to engage in sexual activity during the production of child pornography between Sept. 26, 2024 and Oct. 9, 2024.

He also is charged with knowingly distributing across state lines visual depictions of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct on July 22, 2024. The third charge maintains Lane knowingly used a computer to view and possess at least one visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct between July 2024 and October 10, 2024.

Federal court records indicate Lane “engaged in an extended and highly sexualized conversation” with a 13-year-old girl and sent her pornographic videos and a video of himself naked in the shower. Lane also attempted to get the girl to video chat with him and expose her private parts, Ophardt wrote in his formal written appeal of Doyle’s ruling.

Lane was initially charged in state court with one count of child luring on Oct. 24, 2024 following an investigation by the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (VT-ICAC) with assistance from Burlington, South Burlington and Winooski Police Departments.

Vermont-ICAC Investigator Sarah Superneau said in court papers the original tip came from Department of the Army Criminal Intelligence Division. The former South Burlington Police detective said Lane had communicated online via Meeff and WhatsApp with Department of the Army Special Agent John Moore posing as a 13-year-old girl and he reportedly engaged in sexually explicit conversations with the undercover investigator.

Lane denied the initial one state charge and Judge David Fenster ordered conditions of release that restricted Lane’s contact with minors and his access to the internet. The state later added additional criminal charges.

Ophardt wrote that a review of Lane’s phone after the new federal indictment on Nov. 13 indicated some troubling searches had been conducted. Vermont-ICAC Detective Brandon Gallant, a trained computer forensic examiner, found at least seven search terms that were sexual in nature, court papers note.

The searches happened between Nov. 11 and Dec. 4 and there were visits to a pornographic website that includes live streaming and chatting options, Gallant wrote in his report. They include several visits on Dec. 3.

Ophardt wrote that “A court must detain a defendant when ‘no conditions or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the safety of any other person and the community.’”