By Michael Donoghue

NORTH HERO – Grand Isle County’s most notorious drug dealer is due back in court this month after he has failed to start any volunteer service ordered in 2023 by the sentencing judge for two drug trafficking convictions.

Michael V. Larrow Sr., 67, of Grand Isle was facing a possible life sentence in September 2023 as a habitual offender after his two latest felony convictions — heroin trafficking and fentanyl trafficking – in Grand Isle County.

However, Judge Sam Hoar Jr. said he thought the five-time convicted felon did not deserve to spend any time in prison for the trafficking cases. Instead, Judge Hoar placed Larrow on state probation for up to four years and ordered him to complete 200 hours of community service.

Now court papers indicate Larrow has blown off the judge’s order and the 200 hours of community service.

Larrow will have a chance on Thursday March 20 in Vermont Superior Court in North Hero to explain why he has ignored the court order for almost 18 months.

Probation Officer Elfad Becic said in a court affidavit that Larrow, after the 2023 sentencing, was given a community service log with multiple options for completing the work. Larrow also was reminded about his volunteer service each time he had contact with probation, Becic wrote.

Instead, Larrow has claimed due to health issues he has been unable to do any community service.

Becic said Larrow has been reminded constantly since being placed on probation that he needs to complete the community service, but has done nothing.

Two days after Becic ordered Larrow into criminal court, Judge Navah Spero ruled she found probable cause to charge Larrow with violation of probation.

Hoar had explained to Larrow that the community service was at the direction and the satisfaction of the probation officer.

Grand Isle County State’s Attorney Doug DiSabito had sought a combined prison sentence of 30 years to life sentence for the latest two felonies. DiSabito also requested a $20,000 fine. He said each felony drug trafficking crime should have received 15 years to life and that the sentences needed to be consecutive.

DiSabito also had argued that Larrow’s community service needed to be completed within Grand Isle County because of the serious damage he had done locally through all his various drug trafficking convictions over three decades.

Larrow’s retained defense lawyer Mark Kaplan of Burlington argued for probation and had Larrow’s daughter-in-law read a statement saying how much he was needed in the community, including by his 6-year-old grandson.

No mention was made to Judge Hoar by Larrow, his daughter-in-law, or Kaplan that the defendant would be unable to do any community service that the court was imposing. Also no mention was made about his possible health issues.

A disappointed Grand Isle Selectboard had talked after the sentencing about trying to get the court to direct Larrow to do the volunteer work only for the town since most of his drug trafficking was based in the community.

They even suggested stuffing envelopes with town tax bills at the municipal offices, which is just down Hyde Road from where his fishing bait business and residence that served as a front for his drug dealing business, officials said.

Grand Isle Selectboard Chair Jeff Parizo and Volunteer Fire Chief Adam White both took time off from their work to attend the sentencing and said they were hoping Hoar would finally lower the boom on Larrow.

Also attending the sentencing were two members of the Vermont Drug Task Force, which has had regular dealings with Larrow through the years.

Instead, Larrow’s manipulation of the judicial system continued, officials said.

Hoar imposed a pair of suspended 2-to-5-year prison terms to be served consecutively. The net effect was 4-to-10 years all suspended and placed Larrow on probation.

Hoar told Larrow the probation term was for four years, but he was free to petition for his release from state supervision after two years.

It was unclear how serious the supervision Larrow would receive from Vermont Probation and Parole, which does not have an office in Grand Isle County. There were no probation officers known to be living in Grand Isle County and his supervision would be through the St. Albans office, which is about 35 miles away.

The various court sentences for Larrow, which include obstruction of justice in Chittenden County in 1991, appear to get lighter as his various drug convictions mount up.

Larrow’s drug dealing out of his Hyde Road home and business has been well documented through the years. Larrow’s shop became so notorious as a local source for diverted prescription pills that it was dubbed as “Island Bait and Bean” in the community, DiSabito said in court papers in one of Larrow’s earlier drug cases.

DiSabito filed in September 2023 an 84-page sentencing memorandum, which included documents and records from some of Larrow’s past cases. DiSabito said Larrow needed to be taken out of circulation to reduce the risk to himself, others and the community at large.

As part of the plea agreement signed in June 2023, the state agreed to drop charges for another heroin sale and two counts of possession of narcotics.

The Grand Isle County Sheriff’s Department, the Vermont Drug Task Force and U.S. Homeland Security Investigations began the most recent investigation into Larrow in October 2020, police said.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection did file a civil forfeiture case to have Larrow give up the $13,008 that was seized during the July 1, 2021 raid at his home and business. The cash, drugs and eight firearms were seized during the raid, court records note.

State and federal judges in Vermont have given Larrow multiple breaks and each time he soon resumes his drug trafficking, according to court records.

Larrow got three of his breaks in federal court following his admission that he was part of a major conspiracy to distribute oxycodone in the area in 2011, records show. He helped the Vermont Drug Task Force arrest two out-of-state drug couriers as they were making a weekly delivery of 408 Oxycodone pills to Larrow’s home, records show.

Larrow’s home was raided after four undercover sales of Oxycodone between June 2 and Aug. 5, 2011, then-State Police Detective Matthew Daley said in a court affidavit. Daley said police learned a major drug delivery was on its way from New York as the residence was searched.

Larrow pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Burlington and the judge gave Larrow credit for his cooperation in investigating and prosecuting the case, records show. He was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison in July 2012, records show and also forfeited $11,786 in drug proceeds. The judge later gave Larrow a second break by reducing the penalty to 46 months in prison on Feb. 17, 2015.

The third break in that federal case came after Larrow was released from prison on Nov. 24, 2015 and began his 3 years of supervised release back in the Grand Isle community.

Kaplan, who was his defense lawyer in that case, petitioned the federal court in June 2017 to reduce the supervised release time on the grounds Larrow had been clean and sober since his arrest in August 2011 – with a good chunk of the time in prison.

Prosecutors initially opposed the early discharge, citing Larrow’s reduced prison sentence. They maintained there was no compelling reason to shorten supervision.

However, when the Federal Probation Office said it no longer opposed the early discharge, the prosecution withdrew its opposition on Sept. 19, 2017. So, a federal judge gave Larrow his third break in the case and approved the release that day – cutting supervision of the felon by 14 months.

It took only five months before Larrow found himself back in legal trouble facing state drug charges following a joint raid by Williston Police and the Grand Isle County Sheriff’s Department on Feb. 17, 2018. Police had been investigating a possible fraud case involving the passing of several worthless checks on closed bank accounts when they got a search warrant for the residence and arrested

Larrow, his son and their significant others, officials said.

More than 400 pills, mostly Diazepam, a painkiller, were found during the raid, court records show. Larrow also surrendered a black notebook and a purple notebook with names, initials and ledgers of dollar amounts “which is consistent with those type of records kept in drug sales and transactions,” court records noted.

Larrow got another break when State Judge Robert Mello imposed a prison term of 60 days to one year and a $1,500 fine.

DiSabito had sought a prison term of 328 days and a fine of $1,795 in the case.

Larrow had said during his federal case that he had turned the corner, especially after being sent to drug rehab. Larrow told the court he “hopes to be a role model for children” as he expressed remorse and offered an apology, records show.

Yet his 5-month-old grandchild was present and living at the residence where all the drugs were found by the sheriff’s department and Williston Police, DiSabito said at the time.

DiSabito scoffed at claims by Larrow that he wanted to help others in the drug fight. The prosecutor said at the time Larrow “is not helping others with substance use disorder. He is destroying others’ lives. His criminal behavior continues,” DiSabito told the court.

He has said in court papers that Larrow also has a felony conviction for sale of cocaine in Grand Isle County in 1991 and a misdemeanor record that includes a drug possession conviction in Chittenden County in 1986.