Suspect in violence threat denies charge, free on bail
Fairfax man barred from state building
By LEON THOMPSON
Messenger Staff Writers
ST. ALBANS CITY — A judge has barred a Fairfax man from the state office complex property here, after he allegedly made threatening remarks on Facebook, the Web's popular social networking site.
A Fairfax Man, 31, must make other arrangements to communicate with state employees about his benefits, per conditions of release Judge Greg Rainville set at Franklin District Court on Wednesday Late that morning, A Fairfax Man pleaded not guilty to false alarm (bomb threat), a misdemeanor crime in Vermont that carries a penalty of up to two years in prison and $5,000 in fines.
St. Albans City police arrested A Fairfax Man late Tuesday afternoon, at the site of his son's Fairfax day-care, a day after a manager at the Houghton Street facility reported A Fairfax Man's Facebook comments.
A supervisor at Vermont Health Department's satellite office on Houghton Street, alerted city police to A Fairfax Man's Web post at 8:15 Monday night, after she received a call about it from a concerned friend, who had heard about it from one of her friends.
The supervisor obtained A Fairfax Man's post via a Facebook's message option. It read verbatim: "This message is to anyone who is friends with the workers at the state building, tell them to stay home if they don't want to be in the middle of a riot ... if people don't get their benefits and I find enough people, let's just say, columbine was nothing. "Hunger, will make people do crazy things.
"Ps. That glass in the path office (referring to the PATH Program), isn't shatterproof ... nor is my hand breakable ... keep (expletive) with a G, your gonna get capped ... and yes, even if it's not the people there's fault, someone has to be used to set an example, it's called making an example for a reason."
The Department of Prevention, Assistance, Transition and Health Access (PATH) administers the state's Medicaid-based subsidy programs for medical care, including Dr. Dynasaur and the Vermont Health Access Plan (VHAP).
The person who sent A Fairfax Man's comments to a health office supervisor via Facebook indicated XXXXXXXX "was not a violent man by nature, but I felt like I had to tell someone in case something happened, according to City Police Det. Sgt. McCarty's affidavit.
Fifteen minutes after the health department supervisor's initial call to McCarty, city police stationed an officer outside the Houghton Street complex. The building was also in modified lockdown.
Just after 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, McCarty went to The Fairfax Man's last known residence - and learned that the property owner he had evicted him some time ago.
"I asked (a source familiar with The Fairfax Man) what kind of person The Fairfax Man was and ... and he advised that when he (The Fairfax Man) used to drink, 'He would parade around the yard at night with his gun, and there was a light attached to it,'" McCarty wrote in his affidavit.
The gun was possibly a shotgun, said the police contact.
Just before 10 a.m. Tuesday, McCarty reached The Fairfax Man by phone. The detective said The Fairfax would not speak to him until he knew what it was about.
When McCarty told XXXXXXXX he wanted to discuss his Facebook comments, XXXXXXXX replied, "Oh, wow. That's amazing. That's amazing. Yeah, you can talk to me about my posting on Facebook, but it's not illegal to bring people down to a state office."
XXXXXXXX was en route to the Community College of Vermont offices in Barre when McCarty reached him by phone. McCarty asked XXXXXXXX to phone him again, upon his return to Franklin County.
During that second call, just before 1 p.m., McCarty asked XXXXXXXX if they could speak in person. XXXXXXXX said he was en route to retrieve his child at daycare, and that he would not speak to McCarty without a lawyer.
"He also advised that he cleared it up on Facebook and that it wasn't an actual physical violence or threat and that the problem is solved," McCarty said in court records.
At 4 p.m., McCarty and Det. Paul Morits arrived at the Fairfax daycare and placed him in custody. They did not place handcuffs on XXXXXXXX until the suspect was out of the children's site.
XXXXXXXX's wife was also at the daycare during her husband's arrest and in the courtroom Wednesday.
Per his conditions of release, XXXXXXXX is also prohibited from purchasing, owning or using a firearm or any dangerous weapons.
Public Defender Nicole Bjerregaard asked Rainville if he would reconsider the state's request to bar XXXXXXXX from the state offices in St. Albans, because he receives support from there.
"I think that under the circumstances, that's not a good idea," the judge said. "There will have to be some alternative arrangements made."
XXXXXXXX has no criminal record and could be eligible for court diversion. In Franklin County, a court diversion candidate must have no prior convictions or undergone the program previously. Community reparation is a priority.
XXXXXXXX was held on $5,000 cash assurance following his arrest, but someone posted $500 in cash -10 percent of the total - through a bail bondsman, to help facilitate his release.
Rainville continued the $5,000 cash assurance for XXXXXXXX, which means that if he misses a court hearing, he could owe the court that much money, depending on the outcome of a standard hearing.
