By Michael Donoghue
SPRINGFIELD — Harley Breer Jr., 56, who public safety officials consider “one of the most dangerous criminals in the state,” was denied release from prison by the Vermont Parole Board on Thursday.
Chairman Dean George said the members were concerned about the risk assessment information shared by the Department of Corrections with the board and concerns for victims and public safety. He said the release plan had not been vetted or supported by the DOC.
George said the board supports the idea from DOC that a community supervision furlough from the prison at some point was perhaps the proper first step, before full release on parole.
Breer, originally from Washington County, told the board he has changed, and he doesn’t want anybody to fear him.
“I’m really sorry for the mistakes I have made,” Breer told the board. “I wasn’t born a violent person.”
His adult criminal record, which began when he was 18, includes 25 felony arrests with 14 convictions, parole board records show. Breer also has 47 misdemeanor arrests with 11 convictions, they noted.
His record show 16 charges are for assaultive behavior, including at least one on an officer.
Breer is serving four years to 10 years at the Southern State Correctional Center in Springfield for two counts of obstruction of justice, records show.
His minimum release date was December 2024 and his maximum release date, currently, is August 2030.
Other recent criminal convictions include aggravated domestic assault and unlawful restraint in 2020, records show. Breer also has a 2017 conviction for another aggravated domestic assault.
Breer’s exact proposed release plan appeared to be unclear. The board was told Breer has tentative approval for placement in four counties, with Orleans the apparent leader.
Corrections records show possible destinations as St. Johnsbury or Lyndonville in Caledonia County; Rutland in Rutland County; Springfield in Windsor County; and Brattleboro in Windham County.
The Department of Corrections and others have said they are opposed to him returning to Washington County. Records show one plan had him possibly living with his brother in Plainfield.
The DOC said his past victims in Washington County do not want him nearby.
The DOC, which has been sued by Breer frequently, was opposed to his parole.
Burlington lawyer Robert Kaplan, who represents a client that Breer is suing for non-payment of wages, said in an affidavit he disputes the picture that some paint of Breer.
Kaplan said he was aware that the DOC has described Breer as a “clear and persistent pattern of harassment and manipulation directed at his victims through a relentless campaign of abusive litigation.”
The board, after going behind closed doors for seven minutes, came back into open session and voted 3-0 to oppose his release.
Breer can be considered again for parole in one year.
The Department of Corrections is free to consider him for a furlough, which would allow for release with stricter conditions than parole.
Breer’s parole hearing began last month but was continued until Thursday to get more information.
Breer wrote the board asking for parole late last year and knew he needed to turn around. “I ask because I get it now and I am eager to prove himself,” Breer stated in a letter to the board.
Hope Love of Therapeutic Work Inc. in Burlington said her office was working with Breer.
The Vermont DOC in January 2025 pulled the plug on a plan to send Breer to Essex County after newspaper reports indicated there would be no probation officers in the area to monitor his behavior.
Essex County State’s Attorney Vince Illuzzi said he was upset to learn in December 2024 that Breer was approved for a furlough to his county from the Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport.
After the public pushback, then-Corrections Commissioner Nick Deml put the case on hold. Following an internal investigation, the commissioner turned down the release.
He said it failed to meet three basic requirements for a prison furlough.
“The significant risk he poses to public and victim safety, his history of repeated noncompliance with community supervision, and his high likelihood of fleeing from the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and the Vermont criminal justice system,” Deml said at the time.
Illuzzi, however, continued to question the ongoing breakdown in basic communications by the DOC in the case. The prosecutor said Corrections never told him about the reconsideration decision — he learned it from the news media again.
Illuzzi added that Essex County Sheriff Trevor Colby also had been left in the dark by DOC when the furlough was grant and when it was yanked.
After the proposed release became public on Dec. 31, 2024, Illuzzi and many residents in the Canaan area had raised serious questions about how Breer was going to be supervised by DOC. They noted Vermont Probation and Parole does not have an office or officers in Essex County.
Residents also said they were concerned for local women that may meet a furloughed Breer and not know his violent history, officials said.