By Mike Donoghue
Vermont News First

JEFFERSONVILLE — A 43-year-old Jeffersonville transgender resident, who is charged with attempted second-degree murder for a near-fatal shooting in Burlington two years ago, is back in trouble with the law.

Tovi Rose Mesick, formerly known as Christopher Mesick, became a prime suspect on Wednesday in the theft of weapons from the Aubuchon Hardware Store in Jeffersonville, Vermont State Police said.

State troopers said they learned Mesick was under a judicial order to remain at home 24 hours a day as part of her release conditions from court for reportedly shooting Stephen Furtado, 44, inside his residence at the Salmon Run Apartments in Burlington in February 2023.

The defendant formerly known as Christopher Mesick until he transitioned in 2020, has pleaded not guilty in Vermont Superior Court in Burlington to the felony charge.

Troopers took Mesick into custody on Wednesday on a charge of violating her conditions of release for not remaining at home.  She was brought to Vermont Superior Court in Hyde Park.

A state judge took no action against Mesick for the violation and agreed to release Mesick again on conditions, including the same 24-hour curfew requirement.

State police in a subsequent court-ordered search of Mesick’s Main Street residence located dozens of knives and other edged weapons, including swords and axes, according to a report by Troopers Michelle Archer and Klara Calderon-Guthe.

Mesick was released in February 2023 by a judge in the attempted murder case in Burlington on conditions, including she could not possess any dangerous or deadly weapons, state police said.

Troopers issued Mesick a citation ordering her to return to court in Hyde Park on April 30 to face a charge of violating her conditions of release by having the weapons.

The investigation also is continuing into the theft of $20 worth of knives and blades from the hardware store on Vermont 15 from earlier this month, Archer and Calderson-Guthe said.

During the court hearing Wednesday, Mesick was told to stay away from the hardware store. 

Mesick, who was awarded a Purple Heart while serving in the U.S. Army as a gunner during combat in Iraq, later transitioned while a major federal gun prosecution was underway in Vermont, records show.

Mesick is well known to federal and state law enforcement from 2020 when a grand jury in U.S. District Court charged the defendant with being both a convicted felon and a drug user in illegal possession of firearms, records show. 

Those felony charges were eventually dismissed for technical reasons. Court papers show Mesick petitioned the court to have authorities give back the guns.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and state police found 16 firearms, including several high-powered assault rifles at Mesick’s Jeffersonville home in January 2020. 

Investigators also found 400 rounds of ammunition and a large bag of marijuana, the ATF said in court papers at the time.

Federal prosecutors dropped the charges in August 2021 because they believed they could have trouble showing Mesick had knowledge of both crimes due to unusual circumstances.

Mesick was on state probation at the time for aggravated assault with a firearm by pointing it at a victim in Burlington in September 2017, records show.

Mesick also has an earlier arrest in Burlington for aggravated assault for cutting open a man and his organs were hanging out in 2013, records said. The Chittenden County State’s Attorney’s Office dropped that case.

Chittenden County prosecutors in 2017 had Mesick plead guilty to the gun assault but offered a deferred sentence that allowed for the conviction to be eliminated by staying out of trouble for five years.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Drescher said when dropping the federal gun charges, the government was told that Mesick believed that possession of firearms was legal because a defense lawyer maintained the aggravated assault with a firearm conviction would be wiped off the defendant’s criminal record.

Then-Assistant Federal Defender David McColgin said Mesick served in the military from 1999 to 2009, including a deployment to Iraq from 2005-06 and won multiple service-related awards.

Mesick had more than 150 missions as a gunner with the Vermont Army National Guard, McColgin said.

Mesick said she got blown up three times with the final one in May 2006 being the worst. That is when she was awarded the Purple Heart, Mesick said.

McColgin said Mesick suffered a traumatic brain injury.

The attempted murder charge in Burlington was filed shortly after Mesick returned from Florida and had been staying with Furtado and his wife, Heidi, then-41, for about 3 days, Burlington Police said.

An argument developed upstairs between Mesick and Stephen Furtado.  His wife said she overheard “get out” and what later proved to be a gunshot, police said.

Winooski Police took Mesick into custody on Main Street about a half hour after the 6:30 p.m. shooting, Burlington police said.

Burlington Police initially provided first aid after the shooting and later Burlington Fire and Rescue arrived, officials said.

The Burlington Fire Department wheeled him out of an apartment and to a waiting ambulance for the short run up the hill to the hospital.