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by Mike Donoghue
A convicted killer from New York, who has been living in Franklin County, has been charged with being a felon in possession of six rifles stolen from a storage facility in St. Albans Town last October.
Shane “SB” Hardy, 45, of Brooklyn pleaded not guilty to the felony gun charge when he appeared in U.S. District Court in Burlington late Monday afternoon.
Federal Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle ordered Hardy held without bail pending further proceedings. The defense did not object to the request by the prosecution.
Doyle said pre-trial motions are due by Sept. 27.
Hardy was sentenced to 14 years in prison for manslaughter in New York in 1999, federal court records show. Details of the killing were not immediately available.
In the new case, Hardy reportedly paid for the six firearms through a combination of drugs and discharging drug debts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Hardy, who is known to move around in Franklin County, obtained the guns at the apartment at 100 Lower Welden Street where he was sleeping on Oct. 16, Franklin County Sheriff John Grismore said.
Hardy possessed six firearms, including half that were AR-15- and AK-47-type weapons, records show. They also note two others were semi-automatics, and sixth was a bolt-action.
While he examined and handled all six rifles, Hardy eventually rejected one of the firearms, which was resold, but later surrendered to law enforcement, Assistant United States Attorney Colin Owyang said.
Hardy kept the other five guns and fled before the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department could execute a court-ordered search of the apartment house on Lower Weldon Street, Owyang said.
Grismore said his deputies had quickly developed leads in the case and applied for the search warrant. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, St. Albans City Police and the Vermont State Police assisted with the Oct. 18 raid. Grismore said he asked VSP to bring in its SWAT team as an extra precaution due to the substantial number of firearms involved.
Multiple witnesses provided supportive statements to investigators, including that Hardy had fled before law enforcement arrived.
Cell phone records confirmed Hardy was at the apartment or the area about the time he was charged with possessing the firearms.
Hardy is prohibited from possessing any firearms because of his felony convictions, including for manslaughter and assault with intent to cause physical injury with a weapon, both in 1999, and for attempted criminal possession of narcotics with intent to sell in 1995, records show.
The Franklin County Sheriff’s Department reported in mid-October several people were linked to the break-in and theft of the guns from the storage facility off U.S. 7 near McDonald’s restaurant.
About a half dozen local residents quickly faced state charges in Vermont Superior Court, Grismore said. One woman, who was aware of a gun collector with his weapons in storage, provided inside information for the break-in, he said.
“Several of these players had connections to defendant and his illegal drug trafficking, either as customers of or sellers for defendant,” Owyang wrote in his detention motion.
Owyang wrote Hardy had to be detained to protect the community. He also said Hardy had no known lawful source of income.
Hardy is believed to have floated back and forth regularly between Vermont and New York, Grismore said.
Hardy has been wanted in Vermont since a federal grand jury indicted him Dec. 21. He had been flying under the radar until Saturday afternoon when St. Albans Police arrested him while investigating an unrelated matter, police said.
Hardy was arrested after St. Albans Police responded to a complaint on South Main Street about 1:30 p.m. A car left the scene, but was stopped a few minutes later at South Main and Fairfax Streets by city police.
A criminal records check showed Hardy, who was a passenger, was wanted on a federal warrant, city police said.
He was later lodged at Northwest State Correctional Facility pending his arraignment in federal court.
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Categories: Crime
Another VT farm boy being victimized by society. What a shame.
This country was founded by farmers with pitch forks and muskets.
Criminals have a choice, guillotine, hanging, firing squad, cyanide pills, drowning, Mexican prison, Saudi justice or alligator. (ship them south).
MVRA Make Vermont Real Again
Don’t we have gun laws, drug laws and red flag orders to make sure any violation is dealt with, under the full extent of the law ??, but those laws only pertain to law-abiding citizens, not criminals.
As this ” POS ” and many like him, ” felons” understand the laws better than most law students, a convicted killer, drug dealer having firearms in his position along with his criminal background should be locked up for life, but he’ll get a patsy deal and will be on the street in another state………………… he’s just another big city thug, up in Vermont selling his wares to idiot Vermonters.
Law-abiding citizens follow our laws, criminals don’t, and that’s why we built prisons.
Prisons cost taxpayer bucks, just to house criminals, a B & B. Seldom life sentences are the norm for the harden brainless mind with only the criminal status being their survival means. Treat violence with vengeance that only they understand. in return, Sometimes you have to get on their level to understand and t5reat accordingly. They’ll get a two faced lawyer that’s either for or against them and walla, freed to repeat or serve little time. I’m for making their punishment hard time. And they don’t get the chance to vote. Pacification is liberalism.
Criminals had a choice, go straight and be productive or think crime is better. It’s not so much the environment they grew up in as proven by people that lived in that condition. Drug selling or no drugs is my point. Everyone has a choice.
I wish I could up vote your comment numerous times. The term Vigilant comes from being aware. If Vermont judges and prosecutors will not do their jobs, the people will have to get involved. If they, (the state) do not start aggressively taking these people off the streets and roads of Vermont the people will have to step up. I am not promoting vigilante justice and I don’t call for it but, we are being invaded with felons from down country who prey on Vermonters unlawfully.
Do we have to wait for the murder or rape of some important persons loved ones before they get it. Pass all the damn laws you want to but, criminals could care less. I don’t blame the police; they are doing their job and have little support from the courts. That’s my opinion. How many more will have to die before the legislature quits their insane war on climate change and directs those dollars to crime and prisons to hold the savages amongst us. The voters need to wake to hell up.
just another new york city tourist helping to keep the law and order crowd busy//// how well did the impeachment of the franklin county sheriff go/// he needs to get his certification returned//// enough of the state house bull…./////
Wow! All those gun control laws are working really well. The politicians need to pass some more gun control laws. Laws that will prevent criminals from stealing guns.
Oh, wait I got it if they take away all our guns there won’t be no guns to steal.
“If you are for gun control, then you are not against guns, because guns will be needed to disarm the people. So its not that you are anti-gun. You’ll need the police’s guns to take away other people’s guns. So you’re very Pro Gun, you believe that only the government which is of course, so reliable, honest, moral and virtuous should be allowed to have guns. There is no such thing as gun control. There is only centralizing gun ownership in the hands of a small political elite and their minions”.
Stefan Molyneux