Two brothers and a woman are charged with drug and gun crimes after a successful search warrant was conducted at 267 Vien Rd. Pownal, on September 5, state police say.

As of now, the only named suspects are James Daugherty, Christopher Daugherty and Danica Hill who were all encountered during the time of the search warrant.

Police were able to discover the drug activity from 267 Vien Rd through the use of several confidential informants who purchased cocaine from Christopher Daughterty on several occasions.

The house contained evidence of drug use and multiple firearms, including a loaded handgun.

Christopher Daugherty faces three counts of sale of cocaine. James Daugherty is facing a charge of possession of a controlled substance, and Danica Hill faces a count of conspiracy. All three were transported to the Vermont State Police barracks in Shaftsbury for processing.

James Daugherty and Danica Hill were released with citations to appear Nov. 4, 2024, in the Criminal Division of Vermont Superior Court in Bennington.

Christopher Daugherty initially was ordered held on $5,000 bail and was jailed at the Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility. He was arraigned Friday in Superior Court in Bennington, pleaded not guilty, provided an unsecured appearance bond of $5,000, and subsequently was released on conditions.

Christopher Daugherty, James Daugherty, and Danica Hill are being prosecuted by the Bennington County State’s Attorney’s Office. Anyone with information about this investigation is asked to contact the Vermont State Police at 802-773-9101 or submit a tip anonymously via https://vsp.vermont.gov/tipsubmit.

Burglary in Grafton

On September 8th at approximately 5pm, Vermont State Police received a 911 call reporting an active burglary at 2361 Vermont Route 121 in the Town of Grafton (Windham County), Vermont.

Vermont State Police arrived on scene and found David Hill, 45, inside the residence. Hill was arrested for burglary, violation of conditions, unlawful mischief, and petit larceny.

Hill was transported to the Westminster State Police Barracks for processing.

His bail was set at $2500 and is scheduled to appear in Vermont Superior Court, Windham Criminal Division, on Monday, September 9, 2024, at 1230 hours to answer the above charges.

Unidentified Burglary in Rutland

Police were alerted of a burglary at a private residence in Rutland late on Thursday September 5th, 2024.

Police say that the incident occurred somewhere between the hours of 1pm and 10pm that same day. The burglary occurred at a private residence located at 959 US Route 7 in Mt Tabor.

It was determined that the suspect(s) forced his way through a window (causing about $100 in damage) and stole around $3000 in cash and a .38 revolver.

Anyone who has any information about the incident is asked to contact the Vermont State Police, Rutland Barracks, at 802-773-9101.

Rotary Mart Assault

On Wednesday September 4th, 2024, Burlington police were alerted to a disturbance and possible shooting at the Rotary Mart, located at the Shelburne Rd. roundabout in the south sector of Burlington.

At around 9pm police say the suspect, James Spearman, 47, became engaged in a “physical disturbance” with the victim. Spearman allegedly had a replica firearm which he used to strike the victim in the head several times before fleeing the scene.

The victim suffered non-life threatening injuries and was transported to the University of Vermont Medical Center.

The case was then transferred to BPD’s Detectives Services Bureau who located Spearman on September 6th, 20224 in South Burlington. He was taken into custody without issue and transported to the Burlington Police Department for processing.

Spearman was ordered to be released on a citation and conditions by a judge and is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday September 9, 2024 at 9:30am.

Scam Emails hit Vermonters

The Burlington Police Department would like to warn the public about recent scam emails in which the sender demands money from email recipients.

The scammer(s), either in the body of the email or within a PDF attachment, demand a ransom payment via Bitcoin to keep alleged pornographic / sexual internet search history private.

Typically, the email will contain the recipient’s surname and or phone number, likely stolen from online data leaks.

Here is an example of one such scam that hit Vermonters in mid-August:

Below the block of text the scammer provides a Bitcoin QR code to con the victim out of their money.

The BPD would like to remind the public never to give out personal information or to pay money in response to unknown or suspicious emails. People are also encouraged to report suspicious calls and / or emails to the Vermont Attorney General’s Office.