WATERBURY, Vt — Authorities from the Vermont Department of Security have completed their latest internal investigation, which culminated in five soldiers being found in violation of state police guidelines.
On Tuesday, January 17, 2023, the Vermont Department of Public Safety and the State Police Advisory Commission released their semi-annual summary of the internal investigation.
It contains summaries of eight cases that came before the commission between January and June. Five cases led to determinations that officers had violated police guidelines.
The investigation was launched to examine the January 2022 to June 2022 timeline, according to Nancy Sheahan, chair of the Vermont Commission of Public Safety.
“We started looking at more public transparency in 2019-2020,” Sheahan said. “But our official investigative team assembled by the end of 2020.”
Sheahan said the need for an investigation was based on complaints raised internally and externally, and violations ranged from harassing a colleague during training sessions to being truthful during an internal investigation to mishandling evidence.
Sheahan said the internal investigation process is a six-month investigation based on complaints filed and is an ongoing process to increase transparency in the public forum.
The report cites this mission in its findings of two violations uncovered from internal complaints and four violations uncovered from external complaints.
“The internal investigations take place in six-month blocks and the external or public complaint and the internal or interdepartmental complaint are reviewed,” Sheahan said. “We are doing this because the accountability process is ongoing. We want the public to understand that we are dealing with complaints in a transparent manner.”
Sheahan said the transparency is available to the public on her website.
“That’s why we issue press releases at the beginning, middle and end of our investigations,” Sheahan explained.
A January 2022 record reports allegations that a former soldier was harassed by current and former members while attending a training session and witnessed other instances of harassment at similar training sessions.
The investigation found that the officer in charge of the training did not interrupt conduct that could have been construed as harassment. A second soldier was found not to be responsible for similar behavior.
The first officer leading the training session was suspended for two days without pay, received a letter of reprimand and asked to review policy with his manager regarding his duties and responsibilities.
An external complaint in February 2022 opened an investigation into an allegation that a soldier had committed an offense in his spare time.
The officer resigned before the completed investigation could be reviewed and ruled on by the commissioner of the Ministry of Public Security.
“I can’t give you the details of the violation, who was involved, or what barracks it came from,” Sheahan said.
In February 2022, an external complaint was filed about two police officers mishandling evidence. The police officers received a warning.
In March 2022, an internal complaint was filed about a police officer who made false statements during an internal affairs investigation.
The police officer’s employment was terminated.
In May 2022, an external complaint that a soldier had committed an offense on his own time.
The Internal Affairs investigation was stayed pending the completion of the criminal case, and the investigation was reported to the Vermont Criminal Justice Council.
Sheahan said she could not comment on the nature of the off-duty violation and declined to comment further on whether the FBI was conducting the investigation.
In June 2022, an internal complaint found that a soldier had made inappropriate comments to a civilian employee of the Ministry of Public Security. A letter of reprimand was issued to the police officer.
When asked about the FBI’s connection to any of the violations addressed in the official report, Sheahan said she could not confirm any reprimands or disciplinary action or outside investigations due to confidentiality reasons.
She could comment on whether the June 2022 internal complaint was in fact allegations of Sargeant Lucas Hall’s off-duty violation and misconduct reported in January 2021.
Trooper Hall resigned after being suspended for his public Facebook post praising insurgents in the Washington DC Capitol riots on January 6, 2020.
Hall posted a public status on Facebook that prompted some off-duty misconduct.
The police sergeant wrote: “God bless America!!!! Cheers to the great patriots in Washington DC. The time has come. Let’s gooooo!!!”
According to media reports, Hall was initially suspended during the investigation.
Shortly thereafter, before the investigation was complete, Hall submitted his resignation to his commander.
Shawn Sommers, Raymond Witkowski and David Pfindel have been investigated for faking COVID-19 vaccination cards after police officers raised concerns about their conduct.
Sheahan could not confirm that the 2021 investigation was part of the list of anonymous misconduct charges.
Sommers and Wikowski resigned on August 10, 2021, while Pfindel resigned on September 3 following an investigation by the Vermont Department of Public Safety.
The Vermont State Police referred the case to the FBI and the United States Attorney’s Office in Burlington.
At the time, it was assumed but not made entirely clear how severely a suspect might be prosecuted by lawmakers, but the crime would carry the same weight as a forged document charge with a $10,000 fine and possible federal prison time.
On July 19, 2022, Sarah Ruane, spokeswoman for the FBI’s Albany, New York, office that oversees Vermont, said she could not comment on the status of the investigation.
To date, no official documentation is available to confirm a final finding or conviction for the three former Vermont State Police Troopers.
The United States Attorney’s Office in Vermont could not be reached in a timely manner for comment at the time of going to press.
So far on-site, despite reported violations, Sheahan has not been able to confirm whether any detections of wrongdoing were reported or found at the Westminster, Vermont barracks.
Comments are closed.