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Cops face an uphill battle in Vermont’s shoplifting capital

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Cops face an uphill battle in Vermont’s shoplifting capital


WILLISTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Williston has two distinct personalities. A quaint New England village, and a mile away, a fast-growing retail powerhouse.

“Well, it’s busy, as you can tell. You know, the commercial aspect of the town is growing immensely day by day,” said Williston Police Lt. Joshua Moore, one of 17 officers in the town of 11,000. And with growth, comes crime. “Every single day we’re responding to just retail thefts.”

Known for its box stores, shoplifting has become a major problem for the police. “Retail thefts — 47% just over last year,” Moore said.

“Never know what you’re going to get,” said Williston Ofc. Avery Lemnah, sho has been on the force for three years and spends much of her shift cruising for criminals. “Sometimes we’ll set outside the stores, sometimes we’ll just circle around.”

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Within an hour of her shift, the first call comes in. “Bed, Bath & Beyond just called. They have a female in the store who has previous stolen,” says the dispatcher over the radio. “They just want her to move along, so that’s what we’ll do,” Lemnah said.

Police say the woman stole blankets from the store just a week before. Lemnah pulls up and confronts her outside the store. “Nope, you’re going to stay here until I’m done with you,” she tells the woman.

She ends up giving the alleged shoplifter a no-trespassing notice. “They have to sign it. But once they do, it’s a notice to trespass, it doesn’t expire. If you are back here, you can get cited for unlawful trespass.” Lemnah says the 52-year-old woman put the merchandise back on the counter before police arrived this time. “She didn’t commit a crime today — she was just trespassing today. Cited for the retail theft last week.”

“Sometimes it’s repeat offenders within the same day. They go from one store to the next store to the next store and a lot of it is fuel from drug addiction,” Lt. Moore said. He says many of the addicts are homeless and they steal merchandise for easy cash, selling the stuff to feed their addiction.

Reporter Joe Carroll: Where do these stolen goods go?

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Lt. Joshua Moore: All over the place. We’re told that some of these folks are real honest with us. They say it’s real easy to move — like a North Face jacket — on the streets of Burlington.

Back on the streets of Williston, Ofc. Lemnah sees the same shoplifting over and over.

Reporter Joe Carroll: Do you get frustrated?

Ofc. Avery Lemnah: I do. There’s a lot of them where I have in my head, oh they’ll probably be lodged for ‘X’ amount and it’s, ‘We’re not going to lodge them. It’s not up to me, it’s not my job,’ and… you know.

But it is the job of judges and elected officials like Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George. “People are struggling right now. Our population of people without homes is significantly worse than it has been in the past. People with substance use disorders are significantly worse than we’ve seen in the past. All of those things are major contributors to retail theft,” George said.

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She is not surprised by the rapid increase of shoplifting in Williston but stresses it’s not just in Chittenden County.

Erin Sigrist, president of the Vermont Retail and Grocers Association, agrees. “We have been hearing from our members around the state, more and more this year.,” she said, but believes officials could do more. “We need state’s attorneys to be prosecuting these issues. Simply slapping them on the wrist and sending them back out or not prosecuting whatsoever, isn’t helping the situation.”

“I mean, we’re prosecuting the cases, so I’m not sure how we respond to that. We have over 500 pending. When we get them from law enforcement, we prosecute them,” George said, adding that locking them up isn’t the fix.

Reporter Joe Carroll: So what can be done, what do you think?

Sarah George: People’s basic needs need to be met. We need to be investing significantly more time and energy into people’s basic needs. People need to be housed and they need substance use treatment on demand. Right now, the drug supply is poisoned beyond anything we’ve ever seen.

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Back on the front line, it’s still early in Ofc. Lemnah shift. “At the end of the day, they’re making their own adult decision to walk out of the store without paying for items, so it’s not up to me to be their conscience,” she said.

Punishment or treatment, there seems to be no easy answer to a crime wave that rolls on.



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Woman charged with trying to smuggle $40K worth of turtles across Vermont lake to Quebec | CBC News

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Woman charged with trying to smuggle $40K worth of turtles across Vermont lake to Quebec | CBC News


A woman from China has been arrested at a Vermont lake bordering Quebec for trying to smuggle 29 eastern box turtles, a protected species, into Canada by kayak, according to border patrol agents.

Wan Yee Ng was arrested on the morning of June 28 at an Airbnb in Canaan, Vt., as she was about to get into an inflatable kayak with a duffle bag on Lake Wallace, according to an agent’s affidavit filed in U.S. federal court. United States Customs and Border Protection agents had been notified by Royal Canadian Mounted Police that two other people, including a man who was believed to be her husband, had started to paddle an inflatable watercraft from the Canadian side of the lake toward the United States, according to an agent’s affidavit.

The agents searched her heavy duffle bag and found 29 live eastern box turtles individually wrapped in socks, the affidavit states. Eastern box turtles are known to be sold on the Chinese black market for about $1,400 each, according to the affidavit.

Ng is charged with attempting to export the turtles from the U.S., in violation of the Endangered Species Act. A federal judge on Friday ordered that she remain detained. The federal public defender’s office, which is representing her, declined to comment.

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Border patrol agents first spotted Ng at the Airbnb rental in May when they noticed a vehicle with Ontario plates travelling on a Vermont road in Canaan in an area used by smugglers, they said. Lake Wallace has been used for human and narcotic smuggling, the affidavit states. The vehicle had entered the U.S. in Alburgh, Vt., agents said.

Ng was admitted to the United States in May on a visitor visa with an intended destination of Fort Lee, N.J., the affidavit states. Border patrol agents learned on June 18 that she had again entered the U.S. in Buffalo in a vehicle with a Quebec plate and was expected to arrive at the same Airbnb on Lake Wallace in Vermont on June 25, the affidavit states. They then started to surveil the property.



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The Magnificent 7: Must See, Must Do, July 3-9

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The Magnificent 7: Must See, Must Do, July 3-9


click to enlarge
  • Courtesy Of Phil Bobrow
  • Fourth of July Parade and Festivities

Marching Orders

Thursday 4

The town of Warren steps lively at its singular 4th of July Parade and Festivities. The procession of quirky floats and merry musicians is followed by hot dogs, a street dance and a unique get-to-know-your-neighbors scheme: Pay $1 for a numbered “Buddy Badge,” then find the other person in the crowd with the same number and you’ll both win a prize.

Truth to Power

Friday 5
click to enlarge Reading Frederick Douglass - COURTESY
  • Courtesy
  • Reading Frederick Douglass

Rokeby Museum in Ferrisburgh marks Independence Day with its annual Reading Frederick Douglass event. Audience members take part by reading portions of the abolitionist, orator and statesman’s famous address “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” Douglass first gave the powerful speech on July 5, 1852, as the keynote at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Come Together

Saturday 6
click to enlarge Bondeko - COURTESY

Bondeko bring a multicultural mélange to the Next Stage Arts Bandwagon Summer Series in Putney. The musicians in the Portland, Maine-based outfit span generations and originally hail from Albania, Guinea, Paris and Austin, Texas, creating a sound that’s an unlikely — and unforgettable — collaboration.

Into the Woods

Saturday 6
click to enlarge Ellen "LN" Bethea - COURTESY OF CATHERINE ARANDA-LEARNED
  • Courtesy Of Catherine Aranda-learned
  • Ellen “LN” Bethea

Vermont Humanities marks two anniversaries — its own 50th and the 100th of Vermont State Parks — with its Words in the Woods series. In the second of five gatherings, listeners soak in the natural beauty at Kill Kare State Park in St. Albans as spoken word poet Ellen “LN” Bethea (pictured) shares her work. Stay and enjoy the day at the park afterward: Entrance fees are covered for participants.

Swan Song

Sunday 7
click to enlarge Cynthia Huard - COURTESY

The Rochester Chamber Music Society salutes one of its own at the Federated Church of Rochester when pianist Cynthia Huard plays her final concert, a coda to her 30 years as the group’s artistic director. She’s joined by cellist Ani Kalayjian and violinists Adda Kridler and Mary Rowell in a bittersweet program that includes works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Gabriel Fauré and native Vermonter Nico Muhly.

Fête the Farm

Wednesday 10
click to enlarge Pizza social at Miller Farm in Vernon - COURTESY
  • Courtesy
  • Pizza social at Miller Farm in Vernon

Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont hosts a Pizza Social at Miller Farm in Vernon, part of a summerlong series highlighting historic farms and hardworking farmers around the state. Foodies enjoy wood-fired pizza and soft-serve ice cream made from Miller Farm milk before a hayride and farm tour. Catch upcoming installments of the series in Middletown Springs, Shoreham, Johnson, East Hardwick and North Thetford.

Paint the Town

Ongoing
click to enlarge "Carnival at Royalton, VT" by Cecil C. Bell - COURTESY
  • Courtesy
  • “Carnival at Royalton, VT” by Cecil C. Bell

If you missed last summer’s attendance-record-breaking exhibitions of “For the Love of Vermont: The Lyman Orton Collection,” here’s another chance. The Vermont Historical Society presents a reprise showing at the Vermont History Museum in Montpelier. The selection of 20th-century works by Vermont artists is a love letter to the Green Mountain State.



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Health officials warn of possible measles exposure in Upper Valley

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Health officials warn of possible measles exposure in Upper Valley


State health officials are investigating a possible measles exposure in the Upper Valley.

Vermont and New Hampshire health officials say there are currently no confirmed cases of the measles in either state.

But New Hampshire’s public health division is looking into a report of an international traveler contracting measles shortly after visiting the town of Hanover.

Officials say the traveler could have been potentially infectious while in various public places June 20-22, including Dartmouth College’s campus. The list of locations released by the health department is below:

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  • June 20-22: Dartmouth College campus, Hanover
  • June 20-22: The Hanover Inn, 2 E Wheelock St., Hanover
  • June 20, 3 p.m.: Hanover Scoops, 57 S Main St., Hanover
  • June 20-22: Lou’s Restaurant and Bakery, 30 S Main St., Hanover (one meal, unknown date and time) 
  • June 22: Dartmouth Coach Bus from Hanover to Boston Logan Airport (unknown time)

For people who were in the area on those days, and who aren’t vaccinated or haven’t previously had the measles, officials recommend monitoring for symptoms.
Those include high fever, cough, runny nose, and watery eyes several days before developing a body rash.

Officials ask that people who do feel sick to call their provider before getting treatment to help prevent possible spread of the virus.

Experts say the measles is a preventable disease, and that the vaccine for it is safe and effective.

Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message.





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