Dilan Jiron (left) denied in court helping Theo Bland with the execution of MA drug dealers Eric White and Jahim Solomon.

by Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First

A version of this story was published this morning in the Caledonian-Record

A Hyde Park man pleaded not guilty in federal court Wednesday to aiding the suspect authorities maintain was responsible for fatally shooting two out-of-state drug dealers in Orleans County last fall.

Dilan D. Jiron, 28, is charged with aiding the reported triggerman, Theodore “Theo” Bland, 29, of Burlington, to avoid capture in the double homicide in October in Lowell, records show.

Jiron is believed to have unlawfully helped Bland avoid capture after the fatal shootings 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.

Jiron is the nephew of Vermont Superior Court Judge Justin Jiron, a former chief deputy state’s attorney in Chittenden County.

Bland also comes from a well-known Stowe family, which includes his father, Richard Bland, a lawyer and a former member of the town school board.

Retired Federal Magistrate Judge Jerome J. Niedermeier, who was filling in Wednesday, granted a prosecution motion to have Jiron detained pending trial.

Defense lawyer Jason Sawyer of Burlington said he would not contest the detention request for now. Sawyer said he may later ask the court to approve a release plan for Jiron so he can participate in another drug treatment program.

Niedermeier was told that Jiron had completed a voluntary 3-week residential treatment program at Valley Vista in Bradford last fall and is now in an outpatient program that provides him methadone.

Sawyer did ask the court for about 90 days to review the prosecution’s case and determine if he wanted to file any pre-trial motions.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul J. Van de Graaf had indicated there was an enormous amount of evidence to review in the double homicide. He said there were substantial investigative reports, search warrants, social media and more to review.

Niedermier agreed to set a Jan. 17 deadline due to the case’s complexity.

Bland is due to be arraigned next week, and the deadline for his motions will be set at his hearing.

The third defendant, Justin “J.D.” Douglass, 37, of Hardwick and Bland, 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

Douglass has pleaded not guilty to the drug charge. He has been given a December deadline for pre-trial motions.

The government said it wanted Jiron detained because he was both a danger to himself and the community as a drug abuser. He also was a risk to flee.

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

Records show that Jiron also has a history of failing to appear in state court as required, including at a hearing last week.

Most state judges rarely take action against jail defendants who ignore a citation, a summons, or a court order, including conditions of release in criminal cases — even multiple times in the same criminal case.

Jiron, who also blew off his scheduled arraignment last Friday in U.S. District Court, found a different atmosphere on the federal stage. Jiron was jailed without bail after being found in St. Albans on Tuesday. Federal judges take a dim view of defendants who disrespect court orders — whether in federal or state court.

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

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

When Jiron was a no-show, Federal Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle approved Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Turner’s request for an arrest warrant.

Van de Graaf, the prosecutor, said in a motion that Jiron never reported the two fatal shootings to police, agreed to conceal the deaths and continued to assist the shooter, including helping to hide one of the bodies.

“The defendant has a history of abusing cocaine, heroin and fentanyl over a period of years. He engaged in stealing merchandise for drug dealers in order to support that habit,” Van de Graaf wrote.

He outlined in detail Jiron’s lack of cooperation with court orders and proceedings.

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 the young men were in Vermont to sell drugs, records note.