By Mike Donoghue, Vermont New First
A dangerous South Burlington man, who was sentenced to federal prison in 2022 after threatening a former domestic partner with an AK-47 rifle while on drugs, has been arrested again for a new gun charge, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Kendall S. Liberty, 25, has a long history of threatening family, loved ones and others, court records show.
The new charge in federal court is for unlawful possession of a Glock firearm as a convicted felon in July 2025 and on Nov. 27, 2025 in connection with domestic violence complaints in Burlington, the ATF said.
Federal Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle ordered Liberty jailed during his initial hearing late Friday afternoon based on a detention motion by the U.S. Attorney’s Office that said he was an ongoing danger to the community.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. Lasher outlined a series of events, including the federal arrest and a May arrest of Liberty on state charges of aggravated domestic assault and interfering emergency services. Liberty reportedly strangled both his mother and grandmother and threatened to kill his grandmother, Lasher said in court.
Liberty’s mother reported her son was having mental health issues stemming from PTSD, depression and anxiety, Lasher said in his motion. He said she reported Liberty planned to kill himself and others.
A state judge released Liberty in the domestic case and he was told to stay away from his family, but in total disregard of the court order, he reached out to his mother and directed her not to cooperate in the investigation or to testify, Lasher said in court.
Liberty was charged again in state court in July with obstruction of justice and violating his conditions of release, records show. He was released again into the public, and according to his defense lawyer in federal court, was undergoing residential treatment at Grace House in Rutland when arrested on the latest federal charge.
Liberty’s criminal record includes a 6-month federal prison sentence in August 2022 for possessing a 7.62-mm AK-47 style rifle during a domestic incident while being an unlawful user of controlled substances, records show.
It happened at his residence at 9 Fox Run Lane in the Oak Creek Village neighborhood off Hinesburg Road, South Burlington Police said.
He bought the rifle at the Powderhorn Outdoor Sports Center on U.S. 2 in Williston, Vermont in September 2020, records show.
Liberty acknowledged having consumed marijuana on a frequent basis and, between September 2020 and his arrest on July 20, 2021, on a daily basis, records show.
Witnesses indicated Liberty also frequently used cocaine, ecstasy (MDMA), and alprazolam (Xanax) during that period, court records show.
Witnesses also described Liberty having made threats to use the high-powered rifle against others, including at a children’s hospital, at a school and at Oakledge Park in Burlington.
The threats about Oakledge Park were in part because the Burlington-based Riverside Gang was known to hang out there, Lasher said at the time. The Riverside Gang was one of two battling groups involved in a wild shooting at the University Mall on Dorset Street in February 2021 and a couple of subsequent shooting cases in Burlington. One bystander was wounded at the UMall shooting.
Liberty’s federal sentencing hearing in 2022 was delayed three months after Senior Judge William K. Sessions III learned the defendant had tested positive for drugs while on release, records show.
That felony charge stemmed from an altercation with a domestic partner in July 2021, according to South Burlington Police. Judge Sessions also ordered Liberty to serve two years on supervised release conditions, including three months of home confinement after his discharge from prison.
In the latest federal case, ATF Special Agent Eric Brimo wrote in an affidavit that the federal agency was asked to review a recent local arrest of Liberty by Burlington Police for a handgun recovered following an incident at a woman’s home.
The woman reported she had received numerous text messages from Liberty that he planned to find and hurt her, Brimo wrote.
He said the woman reported Liberty had removed her doorbell camera so she was unable to monitor her residence.
Burlington Police reported they located Liberty in a vehicle parked near her residence on Nov. 27, 2025 and discussed with him the pending court conditions of release and an abuse order that were in effect. He denied possessing any firearms in his vehicle, but acknowledged he had a crossbow and a black powder revolved, police said. Officers also spotted a large fixed-blade knife in the driver’s seat, the ATF said.
Before the doorbell camera was removed, the video footage showed Liberty entered her private residence about 10:19 p.m. Nov. 26, 2025 and left the home about 9:51 a.m. the following morning, the police said.
The stalking victim returned to her residence with police, family and friends and found a Glock 9×19 mm semiautomatic between the cushions on the couch, police said.
The victim said Liberty had come to her residence in July 2025 and had taken her Glock, which her father had provided, police said. She reported Liberty said, “The Glock is mine,” when he supposedly took it in July 2025, police said.
The woman said she told Liberty as a convicted felon he could not legally possess the gun and had not seen the gun since, police said.
Brimo said in his affidavit that he learned Burlington Police had conducted swabs on the frame of the recovered Glock pistol, as well as swabs of the magazine in the firearm.
Police also got swabs from the woman and her father for potential DNA comparison. Brimo said he was provided the swabs on March 26 and he forwarded them to a lab used by ATF for review.
Judge Doyle granted a search warrant on March 31 to Brimo to obtain a DNA sample from Liberty by using buccal swabs of his cheek, records show. Liberty was found a week later at the Vermont Probation and Parole office in Burlington.
Investigation also revealed that when Liberty took the Glock from the woman in July 2025, he also earlier financed the purchase of a separate firearm for her in February 2025, the ATF said. Liberty picked out the gun and paid for it, but had the woman physically acquire it in his presence, records show.
The DNA test results point to Liberty possessing the Glock at the Burlington residence, Brimo wrote.