BURLINGTON – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont has announced that Detective Trooper Jesse Dambrackas of the Vermont State Police has been awarded the inaugural Hometown Hero Award, sponsored by the Department of Justice in honor of America’s 250th birthday.

Detective Dambrackas has been a member of the Vermont Drug Task Force in southwest Vermont since 2019. During this tenure, Detective Dambrackas has assisted the United States Attorney’s Office in securing convictions for over 65 defendants in federal court. Many of these defendants were armed with firearms, and many employed violence in Rutland, Addison, and Bennington Counties as part of their drug trafficking activities.

Detective Dambrackas is well known among federal, state, and local law enforcement as a willing and effective investigatory partner who sets aside concern for personal credit and recognition, focusing instead on pursuing violent and armed drug traffickers that cause harm in Vermont communities. In addition to his work on the Vermont Drug Task Force, Detective Dambrackas is a member of the Vermont State Police Underwater Recovery Team, assisting the team with recovering people and evidentiary items from bodies of water throughout Vermont.

In a ceremony on May 19 at the Vermont State Police Rutland barracks, First Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan A. Ophardt (on left) awarded Detective Dambrackas (on right) the Hometown Hero Award. In addition to Detective Dambrackas’s colleagues from the Vermont State Police, representatives from the FBI, DEA, and HSI were present to thank Detective Dambrackas for his support and partnership on federal investigations and prosecutions.