Stephen Loewe, 42, of Bellows Falls, was charged August 16 in federal court with robbing the Claremont Savings Bank in Springfield August 13.

Loewe had his initial appearance in federal court yesterday afternoon and is currently detained in federal custody. No plea information is provided in a statement by U.S. attorney’s office 

According to court records, Loewe committed a burglary of a Springfield, Vermont store in the early hours of August 13. Later that morning, he entered an M&T Bank branch in Springfield and demanded cash. Later that afternoon, he entered the Claremont Savings Bank in Springfield and demanded $500, stating in a note that it was a robbery.

Loewe then stole a car from a gas station in Springfield,  authorities say. The next morning, on August 14, he entered an M&T Bank branch in Putney, Vermont, and again demanded cash, this time, $1500. Mr. Loewe was apprehended later that day and admitted to robbing the banks and using the money he stole to purchase cocaine base.

Loewe faces up to 20 years if convicted. 

Office manager sentenced for fraud – Jodi Lathrop, 55, of Bristol, was sentenced August 5 in United States District Court in Burlington to 15 months of imprisonment following her guilty plea to charges of wire fraud and federal tax evasion. She also must pay restitution totaling approximately $479,000, pay a fine of $15,000, and serve a two-year period of supervised release following completion of her prison term. 

In 2023, a federal grand jury returned a 19-count indictment charging Lathrop with 11 counts of mail and wire fraud; four counts of personal tax evasion; and four counts of aiding the preparation of false corporate tax returns. Lathrop pled guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of tax evasion last December. 

In pleading guilty, Lathrop admitted that between 2014 and 2020, while serving as office manager and bookkeeper for Claire Lathrop Band Mill, Inc., a logging and woodchipping business in Bristol, she engaged in a scheme to embezzle from the business. 

Lathrop executed the scheme by using company credit cards to make personal purchases of goods and services; by using company funds to pay the personal credit card obligations of Lathrop and other family members; and by using company money to pay for other personal expenses. 

Pleads innocent to child luring – Jason Benn, 35, of Derby, pleaded innocent Tuesday, August 13 on felony charges of luring a child and possession of child sexual abuse material, the Vermont Attorney General’s Office announced last week.

Benn allegedly engaged in sexually explicit conversations with a 13-year-old child. The child disclosed these conversations to a third party, who reported it to law enforcement. Additionally, the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (VT-ICAC) received a CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about a suspect uploading child sexual abuse material to Snapchat. 

Biting dog to be put down – The Chester Telegraph reports an unlicensed dog that has bitten the same passerby on three separate occasions has been declared vicious by the town select board. The dog, which broke its restraint for at least one of the attacks, has been ordered destroyed.