by Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First

A version of this story appeared in the October 15 Caledonian-Record.

A federal judge has ordered an arrest warrant for a Hyde Park man who failed to show for his arraignment on charges related to a double homicide in Orleans County.

Records show Dilan D. Jiron, 28, was due in U.S. District Court in Burlington on Friday to face a charge of aiding the reported triggerman, Theodore “Theo” Bland, 29, of Burlington, to avoid capture.

The indictment charges Jiron offered comfort and assistance to Bland, formerly of Stowe, “to prevent the offender’s apprehension, trial and punishment.”

It was unclear why Jiron, the nephew of State Judge Justin Jiron, was never arrested when the grand jury indicted him on Sept. 12.

Instead, DiIan Jiron was issued a summons on Sept. 19, inviting him to court last Friday.

Jiron was due for his scheduled arraignment at 10:30 a.m. That morning, it was initially bumped to 1:30 p.m., but later, a decision was made to proceed with the hearing at 11 a.m.

When Jiron was a no-show, Federal Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle inquired from both lawyers. Records show that Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Turner requested the arrest warrant.

The two other co-defendants named in the indictment, Bland and Justin “J.D.” Douglass, 37, of Hardwick, are held in jail after pleading not guilty to their charges.

The government filed detailed, separate motions asking the judge to hold each of them. No motion to detain Jiron was filed before his scheduled arraignment.

It was unclear if that stance might change when Jiron is eventually brought into federal court.

Unlike state judges, the federal judiciary in Vermont takes a dim view of defendants who miss their scheduled hearings. State judges do little or nothing about defendants who ignore a citation, a summons or a court order, including conditions of release.

Dilan Jiron is well known as a defendant in Vermont criminal courts, including Lamoille, Caledonia and Franklin Counties, according to public records.

While Jiron is believed to have helped Bland avoid capture, Douglass reportedly witnessed the double homicide of two out-of-state drug dealers at a trailer in Lowell on Oct. 12, 2023, records show.

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.

Vermont Game Warden Dustin Snyder and his K-9, Fletch, found the body of Solomon on the evening of Oct. 24, records show. As police combed the area the next day, Morristown Police Detective Lt. Todd Baxter located the body of White nearly a mile farther into the woods, police have said.

The bodies were covered with plastic, similar to a large roll of plastic that was found at the Lowell residence by the Vermont Crime Scene Search Team, records show.

Family members and police have said Solomon and White got to know each other while serving time for juvenile crimes in Massachusetts. Records show that they also have subsequent adult criminal convictions. Family members said they were in Vermont to sell drugs, records note.

Bland and Douglass are charged with conspiring with others known and unknown to the grand jury between Sept. 7, 2023, and Oct. 15, 2023, to distribute crack cocaine (cocaine base.)

Bland also faces charges of using and carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking crime and that he discharged the weapon on Oct. 12, 2023.

He also faces a charge of possession of both fentanyl and crack cocaine with intent to distribute both on Oct. 12, 2023.

Bland has denied the charges.

Douglass did nothing to alert police about the homicides after witnessing them, Assistant U.S. Attorney Josh Turner said in court papers.

Anybody with information on the whereabouts of Jiron is urged to call 911 or their nearest police department.