by Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First

A Fairfax man, who officials say is under state investigation for multiple deer poaching cases in Chittenden County last year, has pleaded not guilty in federal court to a charge of illegal possession of 3 firearms by a convicted felon, records show.

According to state court records, Travis W. Sweeney, 39, of Buck Hollow Road, had his two-story home searched by Vermont Game Wardens in December 2022 as part of the deer jacking investigation. The federal gun charge was filed recently as an offshoot to a state deer poaching investigation started in November 2022 by Game Warden Jeremy Schmid, who covers parts of Chittenden and Lamoille Counties. He was investigating reports of three deer that had been illegally shot over a few days in the area, records show.

Sweeney, who previously lived in multiple locations, including Milton and Alburgh, is prohibited from possessing any firearms or ammunition due to his felony convictions, records show.

Records show that Schmid was working with another warden at 12:10 a.m. on Nov. 4, 2022, on the illegal nighttime hunting complaints in Underhill when he later spotted a slow-moving truck near Pleasant Valley Road and Irish Settlement Road. A light was used from the driver’s side to illuminate multiple fields on a few roads as the truck traveled in the area, wardens said.

The driver, who wardens believe was Sweeney, failed to stop for blue lights and sirens and instead drove at reckless speeds up to 100 miles per hour for 13 miles in an effort to elude law enforcement, court records show.

The next day a concerned citizen reported finding a loaded rifle with a red dot scope on Irish Settlement Road. The firearm could fire both .45-caliber ammunition and 0410-shotgun shells, wardens said. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives traced to a Swanton gun store where it was sold in December 2020 to William Sweeney, 33, a relative of the defendant, Lt. Robert Currier Jr. said in court papers.

Travis and William Sweeney have been stopped at least three times in the same truck in 2021 and 2022 by law enforcement in Franklin County, Schmid said.

Travis Sweeney has at least two convictions for attempting to elude law enforcement, wardens said. Video from the Cambridge Village Market, the night of the deer jacking incident, showed a truck that matched the suspect vehicle passing by the South Main Street business at about 1:24 a.m., Schmid said in court papers. It turned onto Vermont 15.

The federal case

Sweeney, who has a lengthy criminal record that includes not appearing in state court, did not get off to a good start in federal court when he was more than 15 minutes late for his scheduled arraignment. He kept Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle, the court staff, lawyers and federal marshals waiting.

Judge Doyle explained that being late for federal court – or failing to show — can result in criminal defendants being jailed. Sweeney claimed he ended up going to the wrong courthouse and then got stuck in the gridlock of Burlington traffic due to a fire truck and a one-way street. Doyle urged him to plan to arrive early.

The judge said he was also concerned by Sweeney’s recent drug test showing he was positive for cocaine, marijuana and suboxone. Sweeney said he attended rehab “years and years ago” and has been on suboxone for eight years.

Doyle reminded the defendant that using marijuana remains a federal crime, and he is prohibited from using the drug while on court release conditions.

As Doyle contemplated release or detention, he eventually agreed to order an inpatient substance abuse program for Sweeney if deemed needed by his supervising Pre-Trial Services Officer. Doyle told Sweeney he would be subject to drug testing and noted the defendant had a young child at home.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason M. Turner said besides the state search warrant for Sweeney’s home, the case involves various law enforcement reports and his lengthy criminal history.

Assistant Federal Defender Sara Puls said she would need 60 days to investigate the case and determine what, if any, motions should be filed. Doyle gave her until Feb. 12.

The initial poaching complaint came from the Underhill area and included a high-speed chase with the driver getting away. The wardens were able to get Judge A. Gregory Rainville to approve a search warrant for Sweeney’s home, records show. They noted the subsequent search at the home and truck located multiple firearms, multiple kinds of ammunition, several spotlights and flashlights, records show.

The federal indictment charged Sweeney with possessing three firearms as a convicted felon on Dec. 13, 2022: a Winchester .32-calber rifle, a Savage .22-caliber rifle and a Savage 7-mm-08 rifle.

Sweeney is well-known to law enforcement, and it was not the first time officers said he fled from police when directed to pull over.

He was ordered into state criminal court in April 2022 on a charge of careless and negligent driving in Franklin County. The car eluded police and was later reported involved in a road rage incident on Lake Road in St. Albans, police said. Sweeney was identified as the driver in both incidents and ordered into criminal court.

In December 2018, Sweeney, then 34, of Milton, and his cousin, Miles D. Sweeney III, 32, of St. Albans Town, were reportedly involved in the theft of numerous snowboards from Sugarbush Ski Resort in Warren, Vermont State Police said. Trooper Isaac Merriam said a resort employee called 911 to report the thefts of four snowboards and provided a description of a green Honda with a partial license plate number that was last seen headed north on Vermont 100.

Merriam and a second trooper began to comb the area and found the car about 15 minutes later pulled over near the Crossett Brook Middle School in Duxbury with Travis Sweeney at the wheel and his cousin as a passenger, police said. The Sweeneys said they owned four of the snowboards, but had picked up one they thought had been abandoned, police reported.

Merriam determined two snowboards really belonged to two women from New York, police said. One was worth $950 and the other was $600. A third snowboard was seized pending further investigation.

In September 2014, Sweeney, while living in the town of Georgia, was the subject of a massive manhunt by police, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the U.S. Border Patrol K-9 unit on charges of escape, grand larceny, and failure to appear, state police said.

Republished from today’s Caledonian-Record

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