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By Mike Donoghue
Vermont News First
BURLINGTON — A Windham County convicted felon has been charged by federal authorities after they say they found three firearms in his home during a raid Tuesday.
Terry “T.J.” Russ Jr., 42, of Grafton appeared briefly in U.S. District Court in Burlington on Wednesday.
Defense lawyer Robert S. Behrens did not contest a detention motion that his client was a danger to the community and a risk to flee. Behrens did leave the door open to return to court for further consideration.
Federal Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle set a probable cause hearing for Nov. 6 unless an indictment is obtained.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said their agents and the Vermont State Police found the three guns during a court-ordered search at the home in Grafton near the Chester town line.
A Taurus 9-mm pistol, a Ruger .45 caliber pistol and a Colt .45 caliber pistol were recovered from his upstairs bedroom, according to court records.
The ATF said Russ is prohibited from possessing firearms because of his criminal record, which includes felony convictions in Cheshire County (N.H.) for possession of a controlled drug on June 8, 2023 and in Windham County for a burglary on Oct, 28, 2014.
Russ was sentenced to 2 ½ to 5 years in prison after pleading guilty to a Guilford burglary that involved the theft of several firearms. The former Brattleboro man was captured on security video during the break-in.
The homeowner, Timothy White, upon viewing the video with state police, uttered “That’s T.J,” records show. White was aware of Russ through a girlfriend, and the suspect was well-known to police, records show.
The lengthy prison term in 2014 was due in part to the theft of guns and the defendant’s criminal record, a Windham County prosecutor said at the time. His past convictions included trespassing, credit card fraud, disorderly conduct, assault, obstructing justice, violating conditions of release, driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license, the Brattleboro Reformer reported at the time.
Russ reported five or six rifles, two handguns and a crossbow were among the items stolen from the home, the Reformer said. They had not been recovered by the time of the sentencing.
Russ later identified his two companions in the break-in on Autumn Hill Drive, state police said.
During the raid this week, Russ, admitted he was a convicted felon, but told the ATF there were no guns or drugs in his house, court records show.
The search, which found the three guns, had been authorized Oct. 18 by retired Magistrate Judge Jerome J. Niedermeier, who was filling in last week.
As part of the investigation, one witness reported that he lived at the house off and on since June and that Russ would pay him with drugs or cash for work done on the property, court record show.
The witness also reported that about 10 people were coming and going in and out of the residence and meeting with Russ in his bedroom on several occasions during that time, records show. They also noted Russ was spotted shooting a firearm in the backyard more than a year earlier
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Categories: Crime
Now, will the firearms be returned to the owners who filed a police report of them being stolen????
This is Vermont where only felons are able to carry and possess any firearms they have stolen or bought on the black market. The same goes for magazine size because criminals don’t obay laws. Felons from our border states all have illegal guns. So, in the case of looking like the legislature is going after gun crimes, they instead pass laws restricting their self-defense capabilities of people who do abide by the laws and are not a criminal problem. This is a prime example that gun control does not work. Gun control enables criminals by having an advantage over good people just wanting to protect themselves and their loved ones.
If the governor and the legislature were truly concerned about crime and criminals, they would stop chasing windmills and healing the planet to build a prison and a mental health facility to get these people off our roads, out of our cities and held for the crimes they commit. Passing more laws will control the people who never commit crimes. Therefore, crimes will continue because only law-abiding people pay attention to laws. How much more evidence of this do we need? Treating violent habitual criminals with catch and release teaches them that society will not hold them responsible for their actions. Allowing politicians to continue to restrict the people who aren’t committing crimes is a crime itself. Gun control isn’t about stopping crime, it’s about controlling the people who do not commit crimes. If this isn’t true, please explain how more laws with no enforcement and incarceration of criminals stops any crime.
Building and supporting a prison and a mental health facility is the only way to stop the crimes we are experiencing in once safe Vermont. Those days are gone until corrective action takes place. Gaslighting people with more firearms retractions for those people who aren’t the problem is penalizing free Americans and trampling on their rights. The so-called leaders of this state need to stop wasting money on everything else until we have eliminated this scourge of criminals and organized drug dealing from the cities. Leave the good people to hell alone and go after the savages on our streets, in our towns, cities and on our roads. They need to be taught once again that crime doesn’t pay.
So well said, VIP 1.