By Michael Bielawski

A curious update to a Vermont State Police report indicates an alleged serious crime against a child near a playground, and the story may have turned out to be a hoax.

The alleged incident occurred about mid-afternoon on Easter, which was April 20. The initial report stated, “The Vermont State Police Derby Barracks is investigating a report that a 10-year-old boy was grabbed by the arm by an adult man in the area of the playground on School Street in the Village of Orleans.”

The report included a detailed description of a suspect. The subject was described to troopers as “a white man of unknown age wearing a dark blue long-sleeved T-shirt, approximately 5’6” – 5’9” tall, and thin in build.”

Police time and resources had to be used to investigate the threat. The report continued, “Responding troopers canvassed the area, interviewed bystanders, and were unable to locate a subject. This report is under investigation, and members of the public having information that may assist the investigation, particularly those who may have seen a person matching this description around the above time, are asked to contact the State Police Derby Barracks.”

Five days later, at about 5:50 PM, the state police offered a curious update: that “Troopers have concluded their investigation and have determined this incident did not occur. No further information is available at this time.”

History of crime hoaxes

As an apparent ‘hoax’ crime incident, this case may be an exception to the norm in that most crime hoaxes are often politically motivated. The Manhattan Institute in 1019 did a report on crime report hoaxes, specifically focusing on crimes that are alleged to be “hate crimes” by the alleged victims.

“Mr. Reilly [Wilfred Reilly, political scientist and author of Hate Crime Hoax and Taboo] eventually compiled a database of 346 hate-crime allegations and determined that less than a third were genuine,” the report states.

Vermont has seen alleged – sometimes high-profile – crimes that were ultimately unsolved. For example, in 2017, there was an alleged hate crime in West Glover of people spraying “racist, anti-Semitic graffiti” on the side of a barn. No perpetrator was ever caught.

For several years, Vermont media would report on “Patriot Front” stickers around the state, a group now widely dismissed by conservative pundits as the feds looking to smear conservatives.

The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle