By Michael Donoghue
Vermont News First

MIDDLEBURY – A longtime South Burlington man, who received a 20-month federal prison sentence in 2023 for intimidating phone calls to Vermont criminal justice officials, is back in trouble – this time for state charges of stalking and criminal threatening Middlebury College employees.

Authorities said Joshua P. Puma, 38, now of Bristol, has violated his federal supervised release conditions imposed in U.S. District Court two years ago when he admitted he threatened to kill a state judge and defense lawyer and to rape a prosecutor during phone calls from prison in 2021.

Federal Magistrate Judge Kevin Doyle ordered Puma detained last week after the U.S. Probation Office reported the defendant had been charged in state court in Addison County for new threats involving two co-workers at Middlebury College.

Puma pleaded not guilty in Vermont Superior Court to four state charges:  stalking, criminal threatening and two counts of disturbing the peace by phone.

Middlebury Police said in court papers Puma, who had been employed in food service at Middlebury College, had threatened a woman who worked with him.  The woman asked Puma to leave her alone, but he reportedly continued to harass and threaten her, including through text messages, records show.

A second Middlebury College employee attempted to help defend the woman, but he soon found himself the target of threats from Puma, Detective Ethan Jones said in court papers.

Middlebury College fired Puma and banned him from campus, Jones wrote.

The woman remained petrified as the threats escalated and she had escorts to her car after work shifts, police said.  Puma texted her that he knew she was being walked to her car, police said.  

Middlebury Police developed enough evidence to have multiple charges filed by Addison County Deputy State’s Attorney Richard Nolan.

State Judge Alexander N. Burke agreed to release Puma on $5,000 bail with orders to stay away from his two latest victims, records show.

Bail was posted to free him from the Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility in Rutland, records show.  However the U.S. Marshals picked up Puma on the latest federal charge, officials said.

Puma had a brief hearing before Federal Magistrate Judge Kevin Doyle, who agreed to hear arguments this Friday on whether to consider revoking Puma’s federal release conditions.

Puma’s original federal troubles began after he called a Vermont Corrections Department recorded line on Sept. 30, 2021, to say he would kill a state judge and a defense attorney, U.S. District Court records show.  His indictment also charged him with making a similar call on Oct. 26, 2021, threatening to kill a state judge and to sexually assault a prosecutor.  The third charge stemmed from a phone call on Nov. 30, 2021, to say he planned to kill a state judge.

Puma, who also had lived in Shelburne, made close to 300 calls to the special recorded phone line that is available for jailed inmates, officials said.  Puma made clear that once he was released from prison he had specific intentions to kill and maim those state officials, along with killing or harming other members of the legal community, Assistant U.S. Attorney Wendy Fuller said at the time.

Puma pleaded guilty to the three felony charges in U.S. District Court in Rutland on Feb. 2, 2023.

 While the federal sentencing guidelines had proposed a stiffer penalty, then-Chief Federal Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford said he would venture downward to 20 months due to the defendant’s past mental issues.

Puma, who was well known to South Burlington Police, had ongoing mental health issues and had been ordered hospitalized at least twice by the state court.

Puma, who once punched his state public defender in the face, was told he would be under federal supervised release conditions for three years once he was discharged from prison.

Sarah Reed, his state public defender, was the intended target of one death threat, officials have said.  During Puma’s arraignment, Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George was identified as the target for the rape threat.

Puma punched Reed in the face while she was representing him in state court in September 2019, Fuller has said.  The punch caused Reed to fall to the ground and it took five security officers to restrain Puma, Fuller told the court.

He later pleaded guilty to assaulting his attorney and was sentenced to 4-12 months to serve, Fuller said.

Puma was later found incompetent in March 2022 to stand trial on state charges for two criminal cases in Chittenden County.  Vermont Superior Court Judge A. Gregory Rainville on May 17, 2022 issued a pair of orders of hospitalization for 90 days to further check Puma’s mental status.

Puma was never sent to the state mental hospital in Berlin due to a federal detainer filed against him.  The detainer came when a federal grand jury in Burlington in April 2022 indicted Puma on the three felony charges for threatening the public officials during the fall of 2021.

The biggest difference between the federal and state incompetency procedures is how the defendant gets returned to society.

The state has a secret process that eventually allows the Mental Health Commissioner to privately make the release call.  There is no notification requirement for the public.

The federal system normally has the defendant’s case remain in a public court setting, and the community is informed about any planned release.  Any release conditions for a defendant are public record.   

Puma is well known to police, especially in South Burlington and Shelburne.  South Burlington Police have said city officers have spent considerable time dealing with Puma, including an arrest for stalking that involved a complaint from a neighbor on Williston Road near Heath Street.

Among the Shelburne Police cases was a welfare check call at his parents’ home on Ridgefield Drive on December 28, 2015, records show.  Officer Brian Fox reported police responded about 4:10 p.m. for a possible suicidal man complaint.

Upon arrival officers found a broken window in the garage area and while checking police spotted Puma through a window with a rifle and a knife in his hands inside the residence, Fox said.

Police got Puma to exit the residence without incident.  Puma was taken into protective custody and transported to UVM Medical Center for evaluation, police said. After being released from the hospital Puma was lodged in jail for a probation violation and ordered into court on reckless endangerment and unlawful mischief charges, Fox said.