Suspect believed to have committed other four robbery/burglaries this week

By VDC staff

Brayden Hemingway, 18, of Vergennes has been charged in federal court the robbery of the Stewart’s Shop in South Burlington, on September 13.

On September 15, Hemingway appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle. He was ordered detained, pending a detention hearing, which is currently scheduled for September 22, 2026.

According to court records, at about 7 PM on September 13 South Burlington Police were dispatched to the Stewart’s Shop on Shelburne Road in South Burlington, following an armed robbery. Security footage showed a male—later identified as Hemingway—arrive at the store in a white Kia Soul, enter the store, point an apparent handgun at store clerks, demand money, and then leave the store with cash. A man matching Hemingway’s description and apparel robbed the Winooski Champlain Farms convenience store about an hour earlier in a similar manner. Hemingway is further suspected of engaging in three burglaries in Burlington and South Burlington between September 12 and 14.

This is not Hemingway’s first encounter with the law.

In April 2025, Hemingway, then 16, was charged with negligent driving, death resulting, after he crashed a car in which Jaida Cram, 20, of Bristol died. Police say he was fleeing a sheriff’s deputy he believed was following him. Police say he was under the influence of marijuana at the time. The store, part of a chain of convenience stores located in Vermont and New York state, is located across from the Shelburne Road McDonald’s restaurant.

Hemingway faces up to 20 years of imprisonment if convicted. First Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan A. Ophardt commended the investigatory efforts of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the South Burlington Police Department, the Burlington Police Department, the Milton Police Department, the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, the Vermont Highway Patrol, and the Winooski Police Department. Ophardt added: “I am extremely grateful for the coordinated, diligent, and swift work of the officers and agents who investigated these crimes, and who safely apprehended Hemingway.”

The prosecutor is Assistant United States Attorney Corinne Smith. Hemingway is represented by the Office of the Federal Public Defender.