By Guy Page
Tovi Rose Mesick, 41, the alleged shooter of Stephen Furtado of Salmon Run Apartments in Burlington, is scheduled to appear in court today for the first time since he pleaded innocent to the February 5 shooting.
Mesick, a Jeffersonville resident and decorated U.S. Army combat veteran formerly known as Christopher Mesick, is being housed at the women’s correctional facility in South Burlington.
“Tovi Mesick is currently housed at Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility (CRCF),” DOC spokesperson Haley Sommer told VDC this week. “This facility only houses the female population. As with all incarcerated individuals, she is housed in a unit that best meets her needs and best protects her safety and the safety of the population/staff.”
“I also wanted to note that Mesick identifies as transgender female, and her pronouns are she/her/hers. In accordance with DOC directive and policy these are the pronouns the Department uses when referring to Mesick,” Sommer said.
Furtado, 44, is recovering well from his injuries, Burlington police confirmed to VDC today.
According to Vermont News First reporter Mike Donoghue, Mesick was on foot when taken into custody by Winooski Police about a half hour after the 6:30 p.m. shooting, police said. He was jailed with bail set at $50,000.
Mesick, who won 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, Donoghue reported.
Three years ago Mesick was charged with being both a convicted felon and a drug user in illegal possession of firearms, federal court records show. Those charges were eventually dismissed for technical reasons. Court papers show he petitioned the court to have authorities give back the guns.
The Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and state police found 16 firearms, including several high-powered assault rifles at Mesick’s Main Street home in January 2020. They also found 400 pounds of ammunition and a large bag of marijuana at the Mesick home, the ATF said in court papers at the time.
Federal prosecutors later dropped the charges in August 2021 because they believed they could have trouble showing Mesick had knowledge of both crimes due to 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.
Categories: Crime
This is pretty sick. A biological male only has to profess that he “feels female” and voila, he’s in a woman’s prison where he may very well endanger the women housed there. Somehow I doubt very much that any woman would insist they “feel like a man “ and demand to be locked up in a men’s prison! I’ve noticed that whether it’s sports or funding for programs or prisons, it’s always women getting the short end of the stick when biological males “identify “ as female.
Great point VTI ! I”d give you a “like” but something is up with my “like button” and I have not been able to use it for a couple of months. Any ideas Guy ?
Huh. No idea. WordPress can be finicky. I’ll have to check the settings.
Thank you Guy for referring to the suspect by HIS birth identity rather than HIS “preferred pronouns”. Ta heck with HIS preferred pronouns ! HE should be housed in the men’s prison. If that is inconvenient for HIM so be it ! HE should have thought about that before HE got in a position where this was a problem for HIM.
She seems nice.
Preferred pronoun should be POS
……Yet the Vermont legislators are SO “concerned” about the treatment and the general well-being of those incarcerated in our state system. I mean, they’re so “virtuous”. Oh, wait…..
You Women-Loathing, Misogynistic, Radicalized bigots who, in a truly “equitable” society, would be either incarcerated yourselves for CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY or remanded to a mental health institution where you very obviously belong.
You people are truly evil. But in the end? GOD wins. Sorry…..keep on disbelieving. Until you cannot disbelieve any longer.
By the way, Vermont?
Our “pronouns” are: We/The/People.
Clearly, this legislature needs to be focused on mental health services, facilities and restoring the judicial system, starting with policing and ending with corrections- not attempting to “save the world” by carbon taxation.
Well he’s white, violent, and heavily armed so he must be a MAGA extremist right? Oh, he’s in the alphabet club of “marginalized” people. Nevermind. See how that works.
As appalling were the violent acts allegedly committed, it’s hard to get on the case of someone who is obviously mentally disturbed AND has served our Country so honorably. Given what we know now about PTSD in military veterans, that service could very well be the root of his problem. However, for the placement in women’s prison, that situation has resulted in sexual assaults and pregnancies in some other parts of the country that have also entertained that ridiculous policy. Our civilized society has evolved and is still quite comfortable with sex segregation in some venues, mainly for the protection of women. Those venues are contact sports, public restrooms/changing facilities and the prison system. Traditionally, the sorting criteria has been ANATOMY not psychology, in the interest of protecting women and to most thinking people that makes sense. Long before this “gender enlightenment”, we did not insist that gay men used the womens’ restroom and vice versa in order to not mix up those who are attracted to each other. It was ANATOMY not PSYCHOLOGY then. The prison system should be no different. The easy way to deal with this is by renaming the facilities penis/XY and vulva/XX.
God forbid some member of the Vermont Legislature had a “female” family member end up in prison…would they want them being housed with someone bearing a penis?
States being overrun by a bunch of freaks thanks to progressive regressive policies.Vote every last one of them out before it is too late!
This is truly nuts. Does that picture look like a lady to anyone. The article calling him she, WTH is wrong with this state? Is it the Fluoride in the water, the jabs, the chem trails, the people here are crazy. I am so disgusted with the way things are I may have to move. There are two genders and this guy is a man, no matter if he cut something off and added other things, it doesn’t change his biology. Unfortunately, the man has serious mental health problems that are being ignored. The whole state government ignores the explosion of drug addiction and mental health facilities. They also refuse to build a prison to house criminals because we are too busy killing babies, transitioning our youth and saving the world’s climate. Vermont is the asylum and it’s being run by the crazies in government. And you all voted for this, congratulations Vermont voter!
Dano, certainly doesn’t look like a lady, however, it does look like so many of today’s females with the standard booger ring in the nose and facial tattoos.
I’m sure his preferred adjectives are innocent and beautiful, but why should anyone care?
I would not consider the 4th amendment to be “technical reasons”. I would suggest that people READ the firearms case that was dismissed.
Regardless of what people think of trans people, the 4th amendment should be sacrosanct.
NO progressive liency.
We need safety and security
We REALLY need a Chittenden County ?”prosecutor”?!!!
AND Judges who aren’t namby pamby,focus on safety, not sympathy
The real question is what is between the legs. If there are genitals, the person is a male no matter what they think! If the male wants to be a woman, then have the genitals removed and breast implants!
If a female wants to be a man, then remove the breasts and have genitals added to their anatomy!
That should eliminate any confusion!
Just a fact check here APM,: BOTH sexes have genitals “between their legs” – not just males. That is how reproduction works. Females have some external genitals along with some continued internally, as well as reproductive organs being internal.
A man does NOT become a woman by removing his genitals any more than a dog becomes a wolf by letting a dog eat raw meat. And a female does NOT become a man by removing her breasts & having male genitalia formed.
If the standard protections in place are adequate to prevent prisoners from being attacked by other inmates, then there should be no problem with him being in the men’s prison. If they are not adequate that’s all the more reason he should not be in the women’s facility.
Leaving aside all of the failures that enabled this man to walk freely and armed, I have to ask the question:
How is it a “Women’s prison” if there’s even a single male in it?
(Hint: It’s not.)
Leaving aside all of the failures that allowed this man to walk freely and armed, I would like to know how it’s a “Women’s prison” if it has even a single male housed there.
(Hint – It’s not.)